


SoulBound

by PixelatedRose



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Abusive Relationships, Feeling Out of Place, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, M/M, On Hiatus, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Swearing, Verbal Fighting, absent siblings, alcohol mention, controlling parents, crying (a lot of crying), drug mention, physical fighting, smoking mention, unsympathetic janus (for a while), unsympathetic remus (for a while)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-01
Updated: 2020-07-22
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:41:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 55,522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24492937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PixelatedRose/pseuds/PixelatedRose
Summary: Roman Prince and Logan Rose are soulmates. They’re platonic soulmates though. They both have the same Soul mark to prove it. But they both have one other soul mark, binding them to one other person. And when they find Patton Miles, it just so happens that they’re both his soulmates. Logan being his Soulbound Soulmate, and Roman being a platonic soulmate. But something feels missing. And it feels filled, shockingly so, when they meet a certain someone a year and a half after they found each other.
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders, Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders & Deceit | Janus Sanders, Dr. Emile Picani/Sleep | Remy Sanders, Logic | Logan Sanders/Morality | Patton Sanders
Comments: 55
Kudos: 162





	1. Soulmates And A Soulbound Boy

"See, Logan! I _told_ you we have the same birthmark!!" Roman shouted in his little seven year old voice.

Logan sighed dramatically, pushing up his glasses. "Stop calling it a _birthmark_ , Roman. It's obviously a soul mark. And fine," the dark haired boy looked away from the brown haired one. "I will admit you were right."

The two boys sat in Roman's room with their shirts off, a sprawling galaxy tattoo spreading over their left shoulder and covering a third of their back. The two had identical marks. Soul marks. 

Soul marks tied soulmates together, whether they were platonic or romantic, it didn't matter. Roman and Logan both had two each; the galaxy one that they both bore, a countdown clock on Logan's right wrist, counting down to the moment he'd meet his soulmate, and Roman couldn't see color. His mother told him it was because when he met his soulmate, he'd be able to.

Roman jumped up in triumph. "THIS MEANS WE'LL BE BEST FRIENDS FOREVER!!" He shouted loudly. A sudden wave of calm and nervousness over took him and he looked at Logan with a worried glance. "Right…?" He asked shyly.

Logan sighed, but smiled all the same. "That's right, Roman," he stood up and linked arms with the other. "We'll be best friends forever."

~~•~~

That was six years ago. Now, Roman stood bouncing next to Logan, who's timer was at one minute, 27 seconds remaining.

"C'mon, Lo!! Would it kill you to be a little excited to meet your other soulmate?!"

Logan looked away, walking normally. It was then that Roman saw his hands fidgeting endlessly.

Despite having tried to not make a big deal out of the day, saying that he wanted it to turn out naturally, Logan had fixed his hair over a dozen times and had prepared his outfit days in advance, not wanting to be a complete mess when he met his other soulmate.

But he still tried to act casual, despite it all.

Roman had come over earlier that day, demanding he escort Logan to meet his soulmate, and Logan couldn't refuse, knowing Roman would just tag along anyway.

Currently they sat in a cafe, Roman thinking it'd be so much more romantic than just wandering the streets.

Roman eagerly eyed the timer on Logan's wrist. "20, 19, 18, 17-"

Logan slapped a hand down on his wrist, the counting his friend was doing making him over-the-top anxious. "Roman _please_!"

But inside he counted too.

_10, 9, 8, 7…_

Logan saw a short boy with curly blonde hair from across the cafe.

_6, 5, 4, 3…_

Their eyes met and something blossomed inside Logan.

The boy ignored everything else and races full speed at Logan, startling both boys by throwing the dark haired boy into a hug.

A shocked Logan could do nothing more than hold the cute faced boy in his arms.

"You're the one…!!" The blonde boy said, his voice muffled, speaking into Logan's chest.

The boy was warm and soft in Logan's arms, he fit there as if he was made just for that. His hair was soft and thick and Logan wanted nothing more than to bury his face in the golden locks. And it all felt so _right_. As if they'd known one another since the moment they'd both breathed.

Suddenly the people in the cafe started to clap, a few cheering.

Logan and the boy separated just slightly, though neither let go. They looked in shock at the people.

"Roman, why are they applauding? What is there to celebrate? Did I miss something?"

" _Buddy_ ," Roman said, clapping his friend on the back. "They're cheering for you!! It's not everyday that they get to see a couple of young kids meet their soulmate!!"

"Oh my gosh, my timer!!" The blonde boy said looking down at his wrist as the cafe calmed down.

Logan instinctively looked down at his own at the mention of a timer.

Both their wrists blinked at 00:00:00:00:00 before both disappeared and were replaced by new text.

Logan's now read, November 23, 2015, 2:34 PM. And underneath the date and time, In curly, cute light blue letters, a name was written.

Patton.

The blonde boy's wrist looked nearly identical, though the name written under the date and time was done in neat and pretty dark blue cursive, and read 'Logan' rather than 'Patton.'

"Logan…?" The blonde boy asked. His voice was one that Logan had never heard before, but it felt warm and smooth and golden and so very _right_ and _familiar_ in his ears. That voice was meant to play in Logan's ears. It belonged there.

"P-Patton?" Logan asked hesitantly, meeting his eyes once more. And this time truly seeing them.

They were blue, like Logan's, but they held so much in them. They were happy eyes, and they were knowing. They were so deep and clear and pale and Logan was suddenly very scared of what would happen if ever stopped knowing this stranger.

They hugged each other again, and there was no need for words.

Roman and Logan may be platonic soulmates, but that was nothing to what Logan was feeling towards Patton.

Logan and Patton were _soulbound_ soulmates.

Someone, and many people in fact, have more than one soul mark. They're friends that will last them till the end of time as well as romantic partners that will be as beautiful as the sun and moon on clear and warm day. You're friends may be your soulmates, but your partner is your soulbound soulmate. You can go your entire life never finding some of your soulmates, and live a relatively happy and normal life. Albeit spattered with episodes of depression and other mental issues in the later years.

But you can go absolutely _mad_ if you don't find your soulbound soulmate. In fact, it hasn't been heard of. Yes, some people go years without finding them, but they always do. And some people don’t even _have_ soulbound soulmates. It's the act of refusing a soulbound soulmate that makes one to insane.

You're bound to them. You two are meant for each other.

And _that_.

_That_ was what Logan and Patton had.

Finally the two separated into flustered messes, realizing the scene they probably made.

Patton held out a had to Logan shyly. "Sorry, I didn't introduce myself properly. My name's Patton Miles."

Logan took it instantly. "My name is Logan Rose. Though I suppose you already knew that by now…" Logan said, turning Patton's hand over to fondly admire the tattoo on Patton's wrist, Logan's name forever inscripted upon it.

Patton turned to Roman too, holding his hand out again. "Are you a friend? My name's-"

Roman took it enthusiastically. "Patton! I kno-"

And they both gasped and jumped away from each other, as if they'd been scorched from the touch.

"I-I-!!" Patton stuttered as he looked around through his round frames.

"Lo...Lo...Logan…!!!" Roman frantically battered at his friend, his green eyes frantic.

"Roman? Patton! Are you Okay?!" Logan asked, gripping Roman's sleeve and clasping Patton's hand instinctively, though where that instinct came from he did not know.

Roman and Patton turned to Logan and the two yelled at the same time; "LOGAN I CAN SEE!!!"

~~•~~

As it turned out, Patton and Roman were also soulmates. For the three of them to all be interconnected? It was such a coincidence Roman and Patton began calling it fate and destiny. Though Logan was having none of that kismet nonsense.

A year and a half passed and Logan And and Patton had started dating, Logan finally getting over himself and Patton finally working up the courage to officially ask.

And all the while it still felt like something was missing.

None of them really knew what exactly it was.

But right after they had made official, they met someone who seemed to fill the space.


	2. An Emo Comes To School And All The Wrong People Notice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roman Prince and Logan Rose are soulmates. They’re platonic soulmates though. They both have the same Soul mark to prove it. But they both have one other soul mark, binding them to one other person. And when they find Patton Miles, it just so happens that they’re both his soulmates. Logan being his Soulbound Soulmate, and Roman being a platonic soulmate. But something feels missing. And it feels filled, shockingly so, when they meet a certain someone a year and a half after they found each other.

Roman woke up with a start, his wrist stinging. He looked over at his clock that read a time much to late- or early- for it to be reasonable. He rubbed his stinging skin and tried to go back to sleep. 

This was a regular occurrence. Waking up late at night to a stinging wrist or shoulder, sometimes an ankle or forearm. Once he woke up nearly screaming as his left side felt like it was on fire.

He didn't quite know what it was, but Roman never thought much about it. I mean, people woke up with little pricks sometimes, right? He'd probably slept on it wrong or accidentally hit his bedframe in his sleep.

Roman lay in bed, tossing and turning as he tried to fall back asleep. He looked over to the clock once again and sighed. It was only an hour before his alarm went off.

Not seeing the point in trying to go to sleep anymore, Roman swung his legs over the side of his bed and started getting ready for the day.

After taking a shower and pulling on clothes, Roman's alarm rang out two seconds after he was done styling and drying his previously wet hair. He slapped it off as quick as possible, suddenly not wanting to wake anyone else up.

Roman inched out of his room and into his brother's, flipping on the lights, much to his brother's dismay.

"Turn off the goddamn lights…." His brother muttered through his pillow.

Roman sighed. "Nope! C'mon Remus, it's time for you to rise and shine- or whatever it is that you do when you're awake- and get ready for the first day of school!" He walked over to the broad window and threw open the blinds, letting light filter and flow into the already lit room, the sun beams hitting Roman's twin in the face.

"AaaAAAHH!!" His brother screamed. He sat up in bed and shielded his face. He glared at Roman after adjusting to the light. "I'm going to sell your organs on the internet you pile of horse sh-"

"Love you too, brother! I'm gonna go make breakfast now okay bye!!" Roman zipped downstairs, not wanting to stick around to see whether his brother would act on that threat or not.

Ten minutes later Remus came loudly down the stairs and yelled at his brother. "DID YOU GET OUT ALL THE CEREAL AND THE POPTARTS?!!?"

Roman sighed, looking at the counter that was overflowing with four different cereals and a box of poptarts. "YEAH BRO MAN I GOTCHU!!" He yelled back.

Remus entered the kitchen area with his heavy heeled boots and skipped over to the cereals. He poured a little of each box into a bowl and unwrapped a poptart and crumbled it on top. He went to the fridge and pulled out a carton of not milk but orange juice and poured it into the abomination that was in his bowl.

Roman looked away and tried focusing back on the eggs he had in the pan in front of him. "I can _not_ believe that you actually _eat_ that, Remus! It's revolting!" Roman bemused.

Remus shoveled a spoonful into his mouth, staring at Roman pointedly. "You," he sputtered through the mouthful of 'Cereal'. "My brother, have _no_ taste." He swallowed and gestured to his bowl. "This is a masterpiece of a meal!!"

Roman made gagging noise and slid his single solitary egg onto a piece of toast. "That's not even a _meal_ ! I daresay it would _harm_ someone rather than anything else!"

Remus scoffed and took another bite.

~~•~~

Today was the first day of their sophomore year, 10th grade and they couldn't wait for it to start. Or at least, _Roman_ was excited. Remus had made his opinion adamant; _he_ couldn't care less if the school caught fire.

But nonetheless, it was a day they'd all been awaiting, whether eagerly or with disdain.

Patton had stuffed his backpack full of snacks and colorful pins as gifts for his new classmates and friends.

Roman had excitedly roused his voice in preparation for theater and barber shop choir he was sure to audition for.

Logan had packed up notebooks and pencils and pens, all fitting perfectly in his backpack as he awaited learning, a year ahead of his peers.

Remus had done nothing but think up pranks and plans of harmless destruction of freshman newbies for the start of the year.

A boy known around school as Deceit had discretely packed his bag and pockets full of campus currency- vapes, a box of cigarettes and a few flasks of alcohol stolen from his parent’s cabinet. He looked at his email and raised an eyebrow. He turned to his messages and shot a text to his partner.

And a person of seemingly infinitesimal importance shrugged on a black and purple jacket and sighed heavily. He didn't look forward to this. What's to say it was going to be any different from last time?

And so, life started as sophomores for each and every one of them.

~~•~~

Virgil Sanders walked up to the front of his new high school. _A place to start over…_ he thought.

He pushed his way through the doors and tried to think positively.

"Well _helloooo_ there my good newbie of a kid!!" A voice rang out. Virgil startled back and bumped into someone behind him. _How did someone get behind him so fast??_

"Ah, ah! Don't be scared my good pal!" The person behind him said, his voice was a little _too_ reassuring, a little _too_ happy.

"I-I'm sorry...I'll just find my own way around…" he stammered out. He didn't want to try and be cocky and make enemies this early into the school year. And his anxiety was telling him to play it safe.

He didn't even see the two that were harassing him before a voice trilled out, "oh _there_ you are, babe!!"

Virgil felt an arm wrap around his shoulders. "Hon- _ey_ you've _got_ to stop running off like that! Gurl, you're gonna lose that cute purple head of yours in the crowd if your not careful!" Virgil looked up to see a boy wearing aviator shades and a leather jacket.

"Uhm--?" 

Virgil started before the sunglasses'd guy turned and whispered in his ear, "Just play along, babe…"

"Right…" Virgil turned and kissed the strange man's cheek. "Sorry babe, won't happen again." He cuddled up to the man and wrapped his arms around his waist. If he was gonna play the part, might as well make it convincing.

"That's right honey bae! Now let's get you to class!" And the two walked away hand in hand.

As they rounded the corner, the man parted from Virgil and turned on him. "Sorry bout that honey, but gurl you were in real danger there!" He held out a hand. "The name's Remy b-t-dubs."

Virgil shook it. "Virgil. Thanks. And sorry for the kiss." 

Remy laughed and waved his hand at Virgil. "Oh pah-lease babe! Trust me I probably enjoyed that more than you think I did!" He winked and laughed again at Virgil's flushed face. "Now, stay outa trouble, ya hear? Cause auntie Remy ain't always gonna be around to save that cute face of yours hun. But here's my number in case you need anything!" Remy took out what looked like a business card and handed it to Virgil.

_Auntie Remy. Gossip wheel, late night counseling, party boy._

At the bottom a number was printed. "Hey what-" but Remy was already gone.

_What just happened?_

~~•~~

Remus came away laughing with the short boy named Deceit. “Man, tossing around new kids _never_ gets old! Haha!! Did you _see_ his face when Remy-”

“Remus.” Deceit said pointedly. Remus stopped laughing and glanced at his partner. “You see that boy over there?” He pointed to a small red haired boy with large round glasses and freckles. “He’s been checking his left pocket for the past five minutes. How much do you wanna bet he’s got some lunch money there?”

Remus nodded and made his mouth turn up in a wicked smirk. Roman wasn’t the only one who could put on a good act. “Ohoho! I see what you’re doing there!! Alright I’ll check it out!”

Remus went over to the kid and pressed him into giving up the money. Unconventional threats were his expertise after all. And while Remus tried to believe he didn’t enjoy it one bit, the truth was he kind of did. Having power like that made him feel _good_. And anything Deceit wanted him to do...

Deceit counted the money and nodded. "I'm disappointed the newbie slipped by us…" he looked off at where the purple haired boy had been a few minutes prior. "But I think he'll be back…" His amber eyes glowed a near sickly yellow and Remus got a sinking feeling in his stomach, knowing what his partner was going to say next. "And this time we're playing the long game."

~~•~~

Remus had run off ahead of him so Roman entered the school's doors alone. He had wandered only a few steps inside before a blur of blue and gold barreled into him.

"GOOD TO SEE YOU, KIDDO!!" Patton shouted, squeezing Roman in an impossibly tight hug.

"Gah!! Good to see you too, Patton!! But," Roman gasped out, smiling. "I can't breathe, buddy."

" _Oh_ my GOLLY gee!!" Patton shouted, releasing Roman into open air. "I'm sorry bout that, kiddo!"

"Really Patton, you should know your own strength by now. It'd be quite a shame if I lost my best friend before we graduated." A deep voice called, his voice laced with amusement.

Roman softly pushed Patton aside. "Logan!!" He shouted and subsequently barreled into the tall boy, retracting after a right squeeze to just a shoulder hug. "Buddy, it's good to see you!" He laughed.

Patton made a noise and the two boys turned to look at the shorter one. "And it's not good to see me?! I'm offended! Roman! I am your father-"

"Not my father-"

"And you will love me _right now_!"

Roman laughed and drew Patton and Logan both into a tight hug. "Man I missed you guys!!"

Logan gently wrapped his arms around the other two and smiled. "As did we, my friend. As did We."

~~•~~

It was like any other start of school day. Read syllabus, play a get to know you game, repeat.

It was really fairly normal for Roman.

Until his third period.

Roman knew nearly everyone in his grade, he had been the popular kid back in middle school and that had _mostly_ transferred when he got into high school. So when roll call was being taken, it piqued his interest when a foreign voice answered a foreign name.

"Roman Prince?"

"You called?" Roman asked charmingly. The teacher looked at him tiredly. Roman cleared his throat. "Here!" He called a little more calmly.

"Flora Riley?"

"Here!"

"Uh...Virgil Sanders?"

_Virgil Sanders?_ Roman thought. _I probably just don't remember him. I'll recognize his voice when he-_

"Here." A quiet but firm voice answered and Roman checked behind him to see the source of the unrecognized sound. 

A boy sat in the back of the class with his feet pressed up against the table, curling himself mostly into a ball in his chair. But even so, Roman could see purple hair peeking out from under his patchwork hoodie and stylish, iconic reverse eyeshadow applied to his face. His ripped black jeans and scuffed combat boots made it obvious that there was a new emo in school.

_Cute…_ Roman thought subconsciously. I mean, he _was_ pretty cute.

"Alright class. We're gonna play a get to know you game. Now come up and draw sticks." The teacher held out a tin full of stocks with names on them and shook it slightly, letting the wood jingle against the run. "You'll be drawing the person you'll be sitting with for the rest of the semester. You may not trade with anyone, and yeah, that sucks but so does school." The class snickered as people drew sticks. There were only enough for half the class, and the other half drew the sticks.

Roman was not part of the group that drew sticks. So he sat idly at his seat and began to daydream about how the year would go.

"You're Roman Prince?" A voice asked.

Roman snapped out of his dreaming and looked up to see Virgil the Emo standing over him. Roman smirked and held a hand to his chest. "The one and only! Come to admire how pretty I am?" He asked charmingly.

The emo snorted. "As in pretty dull? Maybe. It _is_ a wonder of the world after all."

Roman scoffed and pressed his other hand over his heart, as if it hurt. "I'm offended! You wound me!!" Roman held out his hand smiling. "I assume we're seating partners then! How do you do, my dear emo nightmare?"

Virgil didn't take his hand, rather he just walked to the back of the class. "Come now, Prince of the Preppy, we don't want anyone thinking we’re _friends_."

Roman frowned at the lack of jest in the emo's voice. He thought he and the purple haired boy were flirting wonderfully!

Since Roman didn't seem to have any other Soul Marks, he didn't have a Soulbound Soulmate. So he freely flirted with every moving thing that breathed.

But Roman wasn't going to give up that easily. "Hey there, plum hair! Tell me, what's it like looking so fruity?"

Virgil snorted, and hid his face in his sleeve.

_Nooo!!_ Roman thought. _I wanna_ see _your cute face!!_

"I dunno...what's it like _being_ so fruity?"

Roman laughed and tried again to reach out his hand. "An absolute delight!"

When Virgil did nothing but sit down at the table in the farthest back corner of the classroom, Roman deflated a little. This Virgil was cute, albeit a little annoying. I mean all he would do is snark at him! Maybe Roman had misread the situation.

"Fine alright," Roman gave up. "I'll stop talking, panic-at-the-everywhere."

"Sweet." Though it was the answer he should have been expecting, Roman prickled.

"So you don't want to talk to me at all?" Roman asked flatly, slightly annoyed.

"No, not really." Virgil said, pulling out his phone.

"Really? Like _really_ Really?"

"Yep." He popped the P and pointedly turned away from Roman.

"Are you kidding me?"

"Nope." He again popped the P.

"You know we're going to have to sit next to each other all semester, right?"

"Yeah…? And…?"

"Well you have to talk to me eventually!"

"And I'll stay here dreading when that dreaded _eventually_ will come."

"You can _not_ be serious! Come _on_ I'm _fabulous_!"

"Fabulously plastic, dumb, and shallow, if that's what you mean."

"Shallow?!"

"Uh, yeah?"

"How _dare_ -!"

"Alright class!!" The teacher clapped their hands, stopping the impending fight that was about to break out. They started passing out papers to each of the students. "Now choose one or two, or however many you want and ask them to your partner. And yeah it sounds boring and maybe it might be if you're boring. So don't be a boring teenager."

Roman and Virgil got the paper and looked it over. At least Roman did. He finally picked one and asked it, knowing that trying to wait for the Emo to pay attention would be futile.

"If you could change one thing about the world, what would it be?" Roman sighed out.

The answer that came was almost immediate and nearly shook Roman to his core. "Soulmarks." Virgil seemed to have spat the word out. "I'd get rid of all Soulmarks."

Roman was about to ask further about it but he heard a loud clang behind him.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU SLEPT WITH SISSI LETANTA?! YOU SHIT!! YOU KNOW THAT'S MY GIRLFRIEND'S LITTLE SISTER, YOU BASTARD!!!" The girl behind Roman was in an absolute rage. The boy she was talki- screaming at was pale and seemed like he'd wet himself out of fear at any moment.

"Whoa…yo Virgil check this ou-" Roman had once again tried to communicate with the Emo boy, but turned to see him filming the whole thing. "What are you doing…?"

"Blackmail."

" _What_?!"

"You never know when it may come in handy."

"You're the creepiest emo kid I've ever met."

"And _how_ many emos have you met exactly?"

"Three! There was this one girl in my middle school that-"

"Yeah okay you can shut up now."

"Well _thanks_."

The fight had only been broken up by the bell ringing. And Virgil left without saying a word to Roman.

_What a weird, creepy, cute kid…_ Roman thought. _I think I wanna be his friend._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For this chapter, I completely changed the interaction with Janus and Remus. After knowing where I want the story to go, I realized I made Remus too unsympathetic. So I changed it.  
> Now Remus is a little more sympathetic, doing the things he does out of harmless fun and for Janus. He doesn't actually like it when people get hurt. He's always down for a good scare and sometimes he's a bit of a rude bastard, but he never means for anyone to get permanently hurt.  
> Anyway that's it! Hope you liked the revised and edited version of chapter two!!  
> Also yeah I know I'm posting this chapter too, but tbh it's mostly to hook new readers bc while the first chapter is adorable, it does nothing to hook people in really.


	3. A School Day Interrupted With Charming Banter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roman Prince and Logan Rose are soulmates. They’re platonic soulmates though. They both have the same Soul mark to prove it. But they both have one other soul mark, binding them to one other person. And when they find Patton Miles, it just so happens that they’re both his soulmates. Logan being his Soulbound Soulmate, and Roman being a platonic soulmate. But something feels missing. And it feels filled, shockingly so, when they meet a certain someone a year and a half after they found each other.

Virgil had had a weird experience in his third period. It was okay at first, but then he remembered that people have soulmates.

And Virgil didn't. 

~~•~~

Virgil only remembered Roman because of his ridiculous way of calling roll. He walked up to him. “Are you Roman Prince?” he asked tiredly.

Roman smiled and held a hand to his chest. “The one and only!” He smirked. “Come to admire how pretty I am?” he asked with a wink.

Virgil snorted. Roman _was_ pretty. He was probably the prettiest boy Virgil had seen in years, not since he’d bumped into that other hot guy on the street a few years back. “As in pretty dull? Maybe. It _is_ a wonder of the world after all.”

Roman placed his other hand over his heart as if hurt and threw his head back just enough to toss his hair. "I'm offended! You wound me!!" He said theatrically. Roman held out his hand smiling. "I assume we're seating partners then! How do you do, my dear emo nightmare?"

Virgil stopped himself. It felt so very _right_ to banter and talk to Roman, but Virgil knew better than that. He could see a galaxy marking peeking out from his collar. He had a soulmate. Maybe more than one. Virgil couldn’t and _wouldn’t_ be his friend. Virgil hardened his voice and started walking to the back of the class where he’d been sitting before. "Come now, Prince of the Preppy, we don't want anyone thinking we’re _friends_."

If Virgil didn’t know any better, he would have said he could almost feel the disappointment radiating off of Roman. But Virgil did know better. And things like that didn’t happen. _Especially_ not to Virgil.

Roman however, didn’t take the hint. "Hey there, plum hair! Tell me, what's it like looking so fruity?"

Virgil felt a small tinge of heat rise up to his cheeks and he snorted into his hoodie sleeve. "I dunno...what's it like _being_ so fruity?" _Why did I respond? I can’t be his friend so why even try?_

Roman smirked at Virgil and once again reached out his hand for Virgil to shake. "An absolute delight!" he snickered.

Virgil once again ignored his invitation. _Damn, he’s sort of cute…_ Virgil thought, sitting down. _What’s his deal, anyway? If he has a soulmate why bother?_

"Fine alright," Roman gave up. "I'll stop talking, panic-at-the-everywhere."

"Sweet." Virgil forced himself to say. Why was this the answer he _didn’t_ want to give? He ignored it.

"Really? Like _really_ Really?"

"Yep." He popped the P and pointedly turned away from Roman. 

"Are you kidding me?"

"Nope." He again popped the P.

"You know we're going to have to sit next to each other all semester, right?"

"Yeah…? And…?"

"Well you have to talk to me eventually!"

"And I'll stay here dreading when that dreaded _eventually_ will come."

"You can _not_ be serious! Come _on_ I'm _fabulous_!"

"Fabulously plastic, dumb, and shallow, if that's what you mean."

"Shallow?!"

"Uh, yeah?"

"How _dare_ -!"

The teacher called attention to the class and Virgil felt a weird knot in his stomach. He pointedly ignored everything, _especially_ Roman, until his attention was won over by the brown haired boy with a question.

"If you could change one thing about the world, what would it be?" He sighed out.

Virgil answered before his head knew what he was talking about. "Soulmarks. I'd get rid of all Soulmarks." His answer may have been haphazardly chucked out of his mouth, but it wasn't any less untrue. In fact Virgil believed what he had said with his whole heart.

Virgil hated Soulmarks.

Everyone was obsessed with them.

Everyone had them.

Everyone had a soulmate.

Everyone but Virgil.

So maybe if they were gone, Virgil would finally have the chance to be normal.

But Soulmarks would never be gone. They had been there since the beginning of ever. Actually, no one really knew when they started to pop up…

Virgil's attention snapped to a pair of people arguing and he pulled out his phone and started recording. He had always been this way. He liked to have dirt on people. It gave him a little power where he lacked the respect of others.

"Whoa…yo Virgil check this ou-" Roman started to turn towards the Emo boy who was already well aware of the fight. He realized what he was doing and his eyes narrowed. "What are you doing…?

"Blackmail." Virgil responded easily.

" _What_?!"

"You never know when it may come in handy."

"You're the creepiest emo kid I've ever met."

"And _how_ many emos have you met exactly?"

"Three! There was this one girl in my middle school that-"

"Yeah okay you can shut up now." Virgil hid his face under his bangs and in his hoodie sleeve. The way that Roman responded so _easily_ was somewhat annoying

"Well _thanks_."

The fight had ended soon enough and the bell had rung, and not wanting to give Roman the chance to further make him regret life itself, Virgil left without saying a word to the preppy boy.

~~•~~

Virgil had had a smooth fourth period and had avoided lunch all together, opting to wander campus for a safe hiding spot rather than go anywhere near the cafeteria that was so overfilled with people.

His fifth period was as dull as was his fourth, and so he doodled in his notebook. He looked down at what he was drawing before panicking and furiously erasing the doodle. He had absentmindedly started drawing a Prince that looked very much like a one _Roman_ Prince.

_Why did I start drawing_ him _??_ Virgil silently asked himself. What was it about Roman Prince that had so captured his mind?

Luckily, Virgil had theater next class.

Virgil wasn't much of an actor, at least not one for the stage, but he enjoyed stagecraft so much. He worked with lights most of the time, but would work props and costumes when they were shorthanded.

Virgil, for once, was excited for his next class. It would be the perfect distraction for him.

Virgil walked into the classroom and was instantly pushed back out by a pair of hands.

"Whoops! Sorry there, we're going to be out on the stage today!" A tall man who looked all too familiar said.

"Okay, cool." Virgil rolled with it and walked in the direction he had been pushed. The man that had pushed him looked so familiar to Virgil...But he couldn't quite place where exactly he'd seen him before.

"Everyone else is already out there, I had just forgotten some things back in the class." The man said. He must be the teacher then. "By the way, what's your name? I'm the new theater teacher, just started this year!" He said brightly.

Virgil shrugged and shoved his hands into his pockets. "Guess that makes two of us then. I just transferred over this year. I used to go to Lakeside."

"Lakeside, huh? Now isn't that neat! That was my high school when I was your age!"

"Really? I'm so sorry."

"Why? I loved it there!"

"Well I guess that's what sets us apart…"

"What was that?"

"Nothing, nothing! I bet it was better when you were there, that's all."

"Had it rough over there?"

"I guess…" Virgil sunk further back into his hoodie, but he didn't have to wait long before they entered the stage to find the rest of the small theater class scattered across the stage and chatting.

Virgil felt his throat catch in dismay as he caught the eye of none other than Roman Prince.

_Damnit…_ Virgil thought bitterly. _Why do I always have the worst of luck?_

The teacher called everyone to circle up on stage and Roman nearly made it all the way across the stage over to Virgil before a girl with pink stripe in her long bronze hair bounced over to him and dragged him over to the left of Virgil, putting five people between them.

Virgil slowly and soundlessly let out a breath he didn't know he was holding in, a little of the tension leaving his shoulders.

They played a few warm up games and then they took a tour around the theater, Virgil and many of the other students already knowing most of what was being shown.

As they went up to the catwalks though, questions popped up. One of which caught Virgil's attention.

The girl with the pink stripe, Rose, raised her hand. "Mr. Sanders? Do you ever use the catwalks for special effects like fake snow and stuff?" She asked.

Virgil's breath hitched in his throat.

"Sure. I wouldn't know if that's ever been done in this particular theater since I'm new, but yeah. It's been done many times before." The teacher said. But it was as if the words had glided straight over Virgil's head, carried by an unseen breeze.

_Mr. Sanders…? As in...his last name is_ Sanders _…??_

Class ended and before Roman could get to him, Virgil walked up to the teacher. "Hey, can I talk to you for a moment?"

Virgil wouldn't have seen the way Roman deflated as the teacher nodded and took Virgil off to the side, effectively making it impossible for him to talk to the purple haired boy without making a scene.

"Your last name is Sanders?" Virgil asked hesitantly. He couldn't bring himself to look at the man anymore. He could remember where he'd seen him before now. He knew who he was.

"Yes? And it's dawned on me I never actually caught your name! I'm just completely flopping a teacher here, between forgetting things in my classroom and not even catching one of my student's names!" Thomas laughed.

"My name is Virgil…" He shuffled his feet and looked at the ground rather than at his older brother's face. "Virgil Sanders." He forced himself to meet the taller man's eyes, which were now struck with somber realization.

"Oh god, Virgil…" Thomas said, starting to reach for his little brother's face to wipe away the slowly building tears.

Virgil slapped his hand away. " _Don't_." He spat. He started to walk away. "I don't care why you're here anymore." He stalked away and as the heavy doors closed behind him, Thomas would hear his brother mutter under his breath;

"Dead-beat…"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not much was changed in this chapter, just the wording of a few things.  
> I will say while rereading it (Something I haven't done in a while) I actually forgot that I was the one who wrote it and got sad at the end lol  
> anyway, enjoy chapter three of Soulbound!!


	4. Five Years Lost In Envelopes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roman Prince and Logan Rose are soulmates. They’re platonic soulmates though. They both have the same Soul mark to prove it. But they both have one other soul mark, binding them to one other person. And when they find Patton Miles, it just so happens that they’re both his soulmates. Logan being his Soulbound Soulmate, and Roman being a platonic soulmate. But something feels missing. And it feels filled, shockingly so, when they meet a certain someone a year and a half after they found each other.

Virgil ran home as fast as his legs would carry him. His mind raced as quickly as his shoes hit the ground, faster still.

_ Why is he here? Why is he a teacher? Why did he come back? Why did he act like he cared? Why come back  _ now _? Why was he never here before? Why? Why why  _ why _?! _

Virgil tripped and was flung to the sidewalk. He knelt on the ground and thought it had started raining. He looked around and when he saw clear skies he realized he'd been crying.

Virgil looked at his shallowly bleeding scrapes on his palms and knees before picking himself up and walking home, storming inside the unusual yellow door, slamming it closed and stomping up to his mother, ignoring her girlfriend sitting nearby.

"Virgey, you're home! How was school-" his mother started.

"Did you know about this?!" He spat bitterly.

"What?! What do you mean, Honey? What happened? Oh my god, your hands!! Virgey, are you okay?!"

Virgil hid his hands further into his sleeves. "That doesn't matter right now!! I want to know why Thomas is my fucking theater teacher!!" Virgil seethed.

His mother blanched. "Oh no…" she turned to her girlfriend. "Rachel, maybe you should go?"

Virgil watched as his mother's girlfriend got up and gathered her things as she slowly left the house.

"Now, Virgey, I didn't think that you-"

"You didn't think at all, Mom!!" Virgil snapped. "Did you know?! Did you know and think not to tell me?! Did you think that it would be too hard for me?! Did you think I'd burst into tears like a little kid?! Didn't want to deal with me finding out so you  _ just didn't tell me at all _ !!"

"No!! That's- that's not!! No!! I didn't mean for-" Virgil's mother was floundering for words to comfort her son.

"It doesn't even matter anymore, I don't care!!" Virgil yelled, he ran upstairs and into his room. He slammed the door shut and pulled out a crude hand-made door stop and wedged it under the door. Years ago the lock had broken. Years ago the lock had been  _ destroyed _ .

Virgil couldn't stand anymore. He fell to the ground and held his stomach. He felt sick.

His mother had lied to him.

His brother- who had everything, who had the  _ world _ , the one that had never made a show to ever reach out and contact Virgil- was his  _ theater _ teacher in his new highschool.

He had  _ no _ friends.

He had  _ no _ family.

He had  _ no one. _

Virgil drug himself over to the edge of his bed and pulled out a small box with an assortment of blades, lighters, and a small square of sandpaper. He fished out the edge of a pencil sharpener and-

"Virgey  _ please _ let me talk to you!!"

Virgil didn't answer.

"Please I  _ need _ you to understand!!"

Virgil didn't need to understand anything else.

"Please, honey, open the door!!"

Virgil removed his hoodie. He couldn't stand the heat his room gave off.  _ That's a good excuse. _

"Please at least tell me you're not going to do that  _ thing _ this time!!" His mother pleaded with him.

But nothing could be done.

Nothing could stop the manic anxiety that took him over. Words played over and over in his head and he felt like he was going insane so he focused on the pain digging into his shoulder instead of his own numbingly intoxicating insanity.

Nothing would make this okay for Virgil.

~~•~~

Roman was walking home and mulling over what had happened that day.

Rose was a good friend of Roman's, but she was a little oblivious at times. She'd pulled him away from the pretty emo boy when Roman had seen him in theater.

_ Theater… _ Roman smiled. He would have never pegged the shorter boy as a theater kid. His head started spinning up daydreams of Roman and Virgil performing scenes together, painting props together, singing duets together for the musical…

Roman shook his head to clear it. It seemed like Virgil wasn't interested though.  _ He probably has his own soulmate, you idiot! _ Roman thought bitterly.

He walked in through his family's door and tossed his currently half empty backpack on the ground before flopping down on the couch with a dramatic sigh.

Remus always stayed after school to hang out with his weirdo friends, so he wouldn't be home for a while.

Roman tried thinking of other things.

So he thought back to lunch.

~~•~~

"Did you hear that Remy and Emile are a couple?" Patton excitedly told his friends as he sat down at the table.

"They've been together for almost three years, Patton dear." Logan corrected his boyfriend.

Patton smiled. "Oh I know! But they're still so cute together!!"

"Patton, they're Soulbound Soulmates, of  _ course _ they're cute." Logan continued.

"You're missing the  _ point _ !! They're  _ a-dor-a-ble _ , Logan!!  _ ADORABLE _ !!"

"I'm not seeing what it is I missed. Is this some sort of complex joke that I'm not 'Gucci' enough to get?"

"That is not in any way how you use that word, honey child."

"Ah well. I'm still learning."

Patton looked suddenly over to Roman who was thoughtfully chewing on a sandwich. "Hey there, buddy! You're pretty quiet, you feeling alright there, Ro?"

Roman snappen his attention away from daydreaming. "Huh?? Oh yeah! I'm gucci as always, padre!" He said strikingly.

"Ah so  _ that's _ how you use it…" Logan muttered as he seemed to study Roman from behind his glasses.

"Are you sure? You looked a little lost in la-la land there!" Patton ignored his robotic boyfriend, save for an instinctual hair ruffle that made Logan's face light up.

Roman looked out the window like the mellow-dramatic princeling he was. "Oh its nothing really…" he sighed. "See, I just met this really cute guy in-"

"OH MY GOOD GRACIOUS SNAP CRACKLERS YOU MET A  _ CUTE GUY _ !!!" Patton nearly flung himself across the table and grappled his friend in a hug.

Roman nearly fell out of his chair on impact and had to pry the overly excited puppy-dog of a man off him. "Gah!! Yeah! But!" Roman started.

Patton immediately pulled himself off Roman. "Wait there's a but?!"

"Yes…tragically I believe he is not…" Roman threw the back of his hand to his forehead and dramatically tilted his head. " _ Attracted _ to me!!"

Logan snorted and Patton gasped somberly.

"Oh no that's just plain  _ awful _ Roman!!" Patton lamented.

Roman smiled all the same. "Awh, Pat! He's probably one of those soulmate obsessed…" Roman drifted off as he remembered Virgil's imedient and harsh reply to his question. "...People." He let himself finish the sentence anyway. For some odd reason he wanted to keep his suspicions to himself.

"Awh, well next time then!! Right Ro!"

Roman's mind drifted to the purple haired boy he'd met.

"Ro?"

There was something about talking to him that felt so very  _ right _ in Roman's mind. It felt similar to how he felt around Patton and Logan. But yet different still…

"Roman??"

_ Why does he wish soulmarks didn't exist?  _ Roman thought, recalling the striking blue of the purple haired boy's eyes.

"Roman!"

Roman drifted, thinking of everything and nothing about the boy he had met in his third period.  _ Virgil Sanders… _ he thought his name felt good to think… "Virgil Sanders…" he breathed out. He thought it felt good to say…

"ROMAN-!!"

~~•~~

Roman shot up on the couch, and grabbed at his shoulder which felt as if he had sliced it open.

He cursed and gripped it tightly, running to the bathroom to see what could possibly be wrong. Roman threw off his red varsity jacket and pulled up his short sleeves to examine his left shoulder.

There was nothing there.

It wasn't even red.

The pain faded down to a dull ache and Roman sat back down on the couch bewildered.

_ What the fuck just happened?? _

~~•~~

Patton skipped alongside his boyfriend, their hands clasped tightly together.

Logan smiled softly to himself, hearing the short, golden haired boy hum to himself.

"Hey, Lo?" Patton questioned suddenly.

"Yes, Patton?"

"Do you think Roman's okay?"

"Why do you say that? I do not think he would injure himself on his walk home, nor do I believe he would have fallen ill in that time either."

"No no, silly!! I mean emotionally."

"Ah. My bad. I am not very good with... _ emotions _ ."

"I know you struggle sometimes, but even  _ you _ saw the way he was acting today, right? He was totally distracted and had his head ten billion trillion gazillion miles away!! I hope he's okay…"

"I see. Yes, Roman did seem very distracted today. Though I suppose that may be because he was a little wonderstruck with the boy he mentioned."

"What?! Really? I thought Roman said that kid didn't like him though?"

"Well perhaps, but you know how easily he can become so infatuated with pretty boys the moment they open their mouth to even breath. And this boy held a  _ conversation _ with Roman, so that concludes that Roman must be 'Head over heels' for this boy."

"Psh, nah!! Maybe a little flirty, but Roman doesn't have it  _ that _ bad!! But do you know who does?"

"And who would that be, Patton?"

" _ Me _ !"

"Oh."

"And  _ you _ !!"

"Oh come now!! I care very deeply about you and-"

"Oh just kiss me already, you dork!"

Logan sighed and laughed, his face lighting up at his boyfriend. "Only as you wish, my dearest."

~~•~~

Thomas Sanders had a good life as a kid.

He got decent grades, he made good friends, he was a little confused why he never liked girls like every other boy in his grade did. And even more confused when he thought his friend Michael looked just  _ so _ cute when he was singing.

Thomas Sanders had a good life as a kid.

Up until his parents split up when he was 13 years old.

His father won custody and took Thomas across states to go live in Georgia where he lived for the rest of his childhood years until he moved back to Florida with new friends.

He started playing around with an app called Vine, and whether it was luck or skill, made it big. He made a Youtube channel and made videos online. He wrote songs and sung disney songs and reacted to other people. And he loved his fans. He loved them with all his heart.

It was when he was 25 that he got a message from someone in his old childhood town telling him he had a brother.

He had a brother?

Thomas Sanders had a little brother!

And he was ten years old and his name was Virgil Sanders!

Thomas sat down and decided to write a letter to his little brother. He wanted to know him! He wanted to meet him! He wanted to be part of his life!

_ Dear, Virgil Sanders. _

_ This is a letter I'm writing to you because I want you to know that you have a big older brother who loves you and just found out that you exist! My name is Thomas Sanders and I want to know more about you! I want to know you! Did you know that I always wanted a little brother? I guess it's not a wish anymore, huh? Write me back, little bro! Tell me about yourself! Tell me about life! Tell me about mom and how school is going!! _

_ Sincerely and dearly from, Thomas Sanders, your older brother. _

That was perfect! Thomas couldn't wait to hear back from his little brother!

He couldn't wait to find out whether he liked sour foods or minty ones!

He couldn't wait to talk about boys (or girls) with him!

Thomas never heard back from Virgil.

So he sent another letter, this time on what he discovered was Virgil's birthday.

He never heard back.

Thomas would send a letter to Virgil every year on his birthday, one for christmas, one for Halloween, one for the beginning of the school year and one for the end, and one every valentines day with a purple rose.

And he never once heard back.

Now Thomas was 30 years old and had decided to become a teacher.

A total of 36 letters, soon to be 37, sent to Virgil.

Even if Virgil didn't want to talk to Thomas, he still wanted to try.

And then.

He found out that Virgil Sanders was his own student.

And he found out that his brother hated him.

So here Thomas was.

Standing awkwardly with his hand raised to knock on the yellow door of his old childhood home.

And he let he fist fall to the wood.

_ Knock, knock, knock. _

"I'm coming! I'm coming!" A hurried voice called from inside.

The door opened.

"What is it, what do you-"

The voice cut off.

Thomas waved awkwardly.

"Hey, mom. How's it going?"

~~•~~

Virgil heard the door open and someone come inside. He quietly creaked his door open.

"-want to talk to him. Please?"

Virgil's breath hitched. It was Thomas.

"No...No...No I don't think that he'd be ready to see you right now, Tommy."

Virgil sat and listened to the conversation.

~~•~~

Thomas glanced over at the counters and the ashtray on the coffee table. Beer cans and cigarettes littered everything.

"I see you haven't changed much." He meant it as a question, but it fell flat and turned into an observation.

"And what's  _ wrong _ with how I am?" His mother asked accusingly.

Thomas looked at his mother and shook his head. "Nevermind…" he looked down at a discarded and trashy school backpack. "I assume he didn't take kindly to the letters? Didn't want to see me? You know I told you I was applying for Eastwood. You could have told me not to you know."

"Well I mean I didn't want to reach out to you and have Virgey find out!" Thomas cringed at the childish nickname. It didn't sound like something Virgil would want to be called. "And I never gave him the letters." His mother finished.

Thomas froze as thoughts raced through his head. "What." He breathed out.

"You really think he'd be ready to confront his older brother? You really think he'd  _ want _ to see you?"

"That wasn't your decision to make though!"

"Of course it was, I'm his mother!"

"That doesn't give you a right to withhold information from him like that!"

"Yes! It does! He can decide what information he wants when he turns 18! For now,  _ I'm _ his mother,  _ I _ decide what's best for him!"

Thomas ran a hand through his hair, distressed. "You know I wasn't trying to be entirely serious when I said you hadn't changed, but you  _ really _ have not changed one bit, have you?!"

"There was nothing wrong with what I was doing before!"

"Oh yeah? Then how come I didn't even know I  _ had _ a little brother till he was  _ 10 _ ?!"

"Because he wasn't ready for that! And neither were you! I didn't want you to think I'd moved on from you!"

"I was  _ 25 _ , mom!!  _ Twenty!! Five!! _ I was old enough to make my own decisions and Virgil was old enough that he could decide if he wanted an older brother and back then it wasn't too late for me to be a part of his life!!"

"He was 10 and he didn't know what was best for him!! And he still doesn't!! I'm his mother!"

"You keep saying that but do you even know what that  _ means _ ?! It means that you're always there for them!! It means that you let them make mistakes!! It means that you give them privacy and a choice!!"

"He can have Privacy when he's moved out! Till then what he has  _ I  _ know about! I'm his mother and  _ I _ get to decide!"

"That's not how that works!!"

"It most certainly  _ is _ !! He just doesn't know what's good for him! And  _ you _ are definitely  _ not _ good for him!!"

"Is that why you kept the letters from him?! Cause  _ that's  _ what was  _ best _ for him?!"

"What?! No!! He just-"

"You were afraid then?! Why didn't even give me a  _ chance _ ?!"

"Because you are  _ not _ good for him!! Right now or ever!! I know best I'm the adult here and I make the decisions and I decide that you will go and-"

"MOM JUST  _ SHUT UP _ !!" Virgil shouted. No one had noticed when he had walked downstairs. His eyes were red and his jacket was wrinkled. "What letters?" He asked calmly.

No one answered.

"Mom,  _ what  _ letters are you hiding from me?!" He voice cracked and choked.

"Virgey, honey, it was for your own good-"

"BULLSHIT!!" Virgil shouted, tears spilling over down his face.

Thomas spoke now. "I wrote you letters." He said. When no one tried to stop him, he continued. "When I found out I had a brother, I immediately sat down and wrote a letter to you. I wanted to know more about you, I wanted to be part of your life." Thomas took a breath. "That was about five years ago. And I never heard back. I assumed you didn't want to know me. But I didn't stop writing letters. I found out when your birthday was and sent you a letter yearly, and I always sent one for christmas, Halloween, and Valentines day. I sent one at the beginning and one at the end of every school year too." He pulled a wrinkled envelope out of his pocket and held it in his hands. "This one was going to be for this year, but I got caught up in moving and beginning my teaching that I didn't get it in on time." Thomas took a step and held out the envelope to Virgil.

He took it and read the handwriting that looked so  _ real _ . It wasn't perfect cursive or some fancy calligraphy, it was normal and  _ real _ handwriting. It read:

_ To Virgil Sanders. From Thomas Sanders. _

Virgil wiped at his face, smearing his makeup. He looked up at his mom.

"You hid this from me…?"

"Oh, honey it was all for your own good! You know how-"

" _ How what _ ?!" Virgil spat venom. "You  _ knew _ how much I wanted to know my brother!! You  _ knew _ how I thought he had left with his dad and just didn't care enough about us to come and talk!!" More tears. "You  _ knew _ and you didn't once tell me that I had a brother who was  _ kind _ and  _ cared _ about me!!!"

Virgil was shaking. He ran upstairs and his mother would hear the door to her room slam shut as Virgil rummaged around until he found the box under her bed full of 36 letters that his brother had sent him.

No one moved.

No one breathed.

No one spoke for a long time.

"I think I'll see him tomorrow." He turned to the front door. "Goodbye, Deva." He said.

And the odd yellow door clicked shut.

And all that was left in the old eerie house was a wronged child looking for five lost years, a mother who had tried to drown the inevitable with broken locks and promises, and a silence that bit like the way a cat silently does with prey already caught.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one wasn't changed much either.  
> Rereading all of this really makes me take a step back and think "Wow....I went HARD." Anyway yeah. I sometimes still forget just how intensely I write sometimes.  
> Hope you're enjoying Soulbound!!


	5. Drama Class Lives Up To It's Name

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roman Prince and Logan Rose are soulmates. They’re platonic soulmates though. They both have the same Soul mark to prove it. But they both have one other soul mark, binding them to one other person. And when they find Patton Miles, it just so happens that they’re both his soulmates. Logan being his Soulbound Soulmate, and Roman being a platonic soulmate. But something feels missing. And it feels filled, shockingly so, when they meet a certain someone a year and a half after they found each other.

The next day at school was a  _ trip _ for Roman Prince.

The morning was as usual, and Roman had  _ actually _ gotten sleep this time. And it was normal (save for his thoughts being preoccupied 65% of the time by a certain boy.) Until his third period with Virgil.

~~•~~

_ Oooh!! He's cute!  _ Roman thought walking into class before promptly scolding himself.  _ No no! He has a soulmate! I'm sure of it! He doesn't want to be your friend. _ Roman warred with himself in his head.  _ But he's still cute. You  _ know _ you want to be friends with him. And even if he has a soulmate, that doesn't stop you from being his friend! _

Roman strut up to Virgil, who was curled up in a ball with his feet on the table, his hood up and his bangs obscuring his face and eyes. "Hello there J.D-lightful! How is my-"

Virgil turned away from him. "Not in the mood, Princey." His voice was rough. Rougher than it had been the day before.

Roman took another look at Virgil. And he  _ really _ looked at him. His makeup was smeared and looked like it hadn't been washed off since the previous day, what he could see of his hair looked tangled and a mess. From underneath his messed up eyeshadow his pretty blue eyes looked dreary and tired and even a little red around the edges if you looked hard enough. The jacket and pants he was wearing were the same as yesterday and looked wrinkled as if he'd slept that way.

Virgil looked like a mess.

Roman sat down and felt an unreal amount of concern for the boy he'd met just a day ago. "Hey, are you doing alright? You don't look too hot there…"

Virgil shook his head. "No…" He choked out. "But what's it to you anyway?"

"Well, can't I be concerned for someone who looked like they got dragged out behind a car in the rain?" Roman chuckled slightly, trying to lighten the mood. He hated when people around him were hurting. He wanted to help. If he could, he would want to be the prince charming that saved everyone.

Virgil chuckled lightly and Roman hid his smile. "Do I really look that bad?" 

Roman shrugged his shoulders, smiling. "Creative freedom! I wouldn't say I'm above the occasional embellishment! But yes you look like shit, Virgil Sanders."

Virgil laughed. He actually  _ laughed _ ! It was light and soft and no more than a chuckle, but it was bright with joy and it danced in Roman's ears.

Roman was so distracted with the soft music of Virgil's laugh he missed his chance to say something before the joy faded from the pretty pale boy's face. "Sorry. It doesn't matter anyway." He huffed despondently.

Roman perked up as an idea flooded his mind. "Hey why don't I help you fix your makeup and hair at lunch, yeah?" He asked sweetly and enthusiastically.

Virgil faced Roman and he saw that his cheeks were flushed, and he was suddenly very concerned if he was running a fever as well.

Virgil looked down and started playing with the edges of his sleeves. "I don't think that's a good idea, Princey."

Roman smiled at the nickname. It was one he'd never heard before. He'd been called numerous names, many spread by rumors.  _ Bastard. Prep. Player. Gay whore. Soulless. Homo bastard. Gay bitch. Slut.  _ He'd always taken the names in stride when the moment came, but he knew what power names held. He knew how deep words could cut someone.

He took a breath and responded. "Why not?"

~~•~~

Virgil stopped. It was such a simple question. Why did it make his heart pound?

_ Why not. _

That  _ was _ a good question. Why  _ didn't  _ Virgil think it was a good idea?

_ Because people will talk. _

_ Let them talk then. _

_ Because Roman has a Soulmate. _

_ But he can still be your friend. _

_ Because people will bully  _ both _ of you. _

_ But then I'd have someone to stand with me. _

_ Because Roman is just pitying you _ .

There it was. The reason it wasn't a good idea. Because it was borne out of pity.

"Because I'm pitiful and I'm not so sure I'm the kind of person you want to hang out with." Virgil said with a fake laugh. Roman made a face when he laughed. It was a face that someone made when they smelled something rancid. As if listening to Virgil's fake laugh was like hearing what rotten fruit smells like.

"Well that's for me to decide and for you to find out how wrong you are about that!!" Roman laughed with such a charming twinkle of determination in his eye Virgil couldn't  _ help _ but want to be his friend right in that moment.

He huffed and hid his heated face in his sleeve. "Alright fine. I'll let you do my makeup during lunch, or whatever." He smiled but quickly turned it serious as he faced Roman. "But don't touch my hair. That's mine and I don't like people touching it."

Virgil waited for the inevitable,  _ 'But You said I can do it so I'm allowed to touch it' _ or  _ 'Awh, but it would make me just so happy if you'd let me do it! And you don't want me sad, do you?' _ But instead all that came was, "Of course! If it makes you uncomfortable, I'll be more than happy to leave it alone, fair-faced!"

_ What? _ That was new for Virgil. He was so used to his mother and other kids invading his space and ignoring him, he forgot that people could be better than that.

Virgil hunkered down in his chair and the two chatted every few moments, Virgil dodging questions and making Roman carry the entire conversation. When Roman stopped talking to him though, Virgil grew anxious. Not of anything in particular, no it was more that Roman calmed him down when he was talking, so when he wasn't it was back to anxiety and worries that held no meaning.

The class ended and Roman asked what class he had next. Virgil told him distractedly and didn't connect the dots of why Roman would ask till he saw Roman waiting for him outside his classroom.

"How did you get here so-"

"Magic!" Roman interrupted. He held up a beat up hall pass.

Virgil marveled at it. "How did you get your hands on one of these?"

"Like I said,  _ magic _ !"

"You're a clueless moron."

"I  _ do _ suffer from Always Dumb and Hot Disorder, so I suppose you're right."

"Wait what??"

"Always Dumb and Hot Disorder! ADHD! I mean I  _ am _ pretty hot."

Virgil snorted. "Yeah sure Princey. Keep dreaming."

"I'll have you know I'm made of 100% attractiveness and beauty!!"

"Oh yeah? Does it say that on the tag? Right along with the price of $10.99?"

"Oh how dare you put my price lower than the leftover makeup on your face!! I'm worth at  _ least _ a whole 50 dollars!  _ Per _ inch!!"

"Per inch of what? Stupid? You know I could actually believe that one."

"Well my Nightmare Oatmeal Raisin Cookie, I do believe I could make a fortune myself off the amount of snark you toss out of your mouth."

"Only for you, Princey!"

They arrived at the bathroom and Roman pulled out his own makeup supplies he kept on hand.

It was a lot more vast than Virgil would have thought. Foundation, powder, eyeshadow in the full rainbow of colors (including a deep purple that caught Virgil's eye), eyeliner, and even some sparkly shit Virgil didn't know the name of. (Virgil had always seen it in stores but had opted for just calling it sparkly shit rather than learning it's name.)

Roman handed him makeup wipes and instructed him to remove his mangled mess of makeup that was already on his pale face.

~~•~~

As Virgil took off the layers of product on his face, Roman could finally see just how tired he was.

The bags under his eyes looked very much like the eyeshadow he had been wearing previously and looking at his eyes a little closer, Roman could see they were bloodshot and all in all, it looked like the poor boy hadn't slept in days.

Roman felt awful for him. There was an odd pang in his chest when he saw the shorter boy like that. What in the world was it about Virgil Sanders that so soundly struck Roman's heart?

~~•~~

Virgil finished with his face and saw Roman ready with foundation and sponge.

"Alright, Charlie Frown, ready for your makeover?"

Virgil rolled his eyes and Roman stepped towards him. 

In fact Roman came  _ very _ close to Virgil.

In  _ fact _ by the time Roman stopped moving, there was hardly four inches between them.

And very suddenly Virgil was not alright again.

Roman had almost completely drowned all of Virgil's fears and hurts and anxieties that had been clustering around him like a dark stormcloud the entire day.

Roman had made the fact that Virgil hadn't slept that night, instead opting to sit and sob violently while reading the five years his mother had hidden from him, okay. He had made him forget it. He had made it alright.

Roman had calmed the constant whirlwind of anxiety that was usually so loud that Virgil wanted to throw up to a low buzzing hum that Virgil had finally been able to ignore.

Roman had made him happy to be there.

Roman had made him laugh.

Roman had made him smile.

Roman had made him forget the marks.

Roman had made him forget his mistakes.

Roman had made him forget what and who Virgil was.

And now.

Virgil had everything crash back down.

Virgil backed away from Roman, pushing lightly against his chest. "W-wait I don't think we should do this anymore…"

Had Virgil not been so lost in the storm of his anxieties, he would have seen the way disappointment and worry flashed vibrantly across Roman's eyes.

Roman's smile dulled to a softly worried one. "Is everything okay?"

For some unknown reason those three words made everything worse for Virgil.

_ No!! No,  _ nothing  _ is okay!! Everything is wrong and bad and awful and I don't know what to do or where to go and there's no one I can talk to and I'm just so alone and scared and  _ nothing will ever be okay _!!! _

Virgil wanted to scream and cry and fall over and he wished he could float around endlessly in the void of space and just silently sob and he wished he had something to distract from the bottomless pit of anxious trembling he had fallen into.

"I-I'm sorry- I just- I can't-!" Virgil stumbled around his words before he backed away and fled the bathroom. He ran upstairs and into a different bathroom where he locked himself in a stall and cried silently, letting the actions of yesterday wash over him once again.

Nothing could be done to make it okay.

Nothing would make anything okay.

So instead of trying to make it okay, Virgil could at least distract himself.

So he fished out a pencil from his backpack along with his sharpener.

~~•~~

Roman watched in pain and dismay as Virgil backed away from him and ran out the door.

Something was very wrong.

And it hurt that Roman couldn't help.

It hurt that he didn't know  _ how _ to help.

Roman tried to brush everything off as he started putting away his materials.

_ There's something wrong that I'm missing here...Is he okay? Is he alright? Does he need my help? Does he  _ want  _ my help? I  _ want _ to help him...why do I want to help him so badly? _

As Roman was exiting the bathroom, his wrist exploded into a stinging pain. He nearly dropped his backpack as he grabbed his wrist.

He pulled back the sleeve of his jacket and found nothing there. Once again it had been nothing but phantom pain. They had been getting more frequent in the past few months.

The bell rang and Roman walked to his 5th period class where he would spend the time with Patton talking about Virgil.

"-and then he just...left." Roman said, finishing his account of his interaction.

Patton nodded his head slowly. "Mm, mm, Logan was right wow. I can't believe it, if I'm being honest, but Logan totally called it."

"Called what?" Roman asked hesitantly.

"You are absolutely head over heels for this boy."

Roman stared blankly at Patton. A red blush exploded onto his face and he waved his hands. "WHAT?!" He shook his head violently and laughed. "No no no, you got this all wrong, Padre! I am  _ not _ head over heels for Virgil!"

"Virgil?" Patton suddenly looked curious. "As in Virgil Sanders??"

Roman looked at his friend, the heat from his face fading. "Yes? Who else??"

Patton brightened up. "I have him my 2nd period!! You never mentioned his name before and now that you have well it's OBVIOUS who you're talking about!!"

Roman couldn't help but feel happy. "Really? You know him?"

Patton laughed. "No! We just have the same class together! That's all!"

Roman deflated a little and the class carried onward.

And for the first time ever, Roman was anxious about his theater class arriving.

When it did eventually arrive, it was so much more dramatic than even the title "drama class" could capture.

Roman walked into class, dreading to face Virgil.

But instead of seeing the emo sulking or completely avoiding him, Roman walked onto the stage and was met face to face with Virgil Sanders.

Literally.

Roman had nearly ran into the pretty faced emo who was just a few steps away from the door.

"Hey," Roman started, his hopes of becoming the emo's friend having died to nothing but a sickly burning coal. "Look, I don't know exactly what I did, but I'm really sorry all the same. And you don't have to try and be my friend or anything if you don't want to. I'm really sorry for-"

Virgil started laughing. It was a louder laugh. It was just as beautiful and sweet as his softly golden chuckle, but this one sounded bright and silvery, it had a bite to it, the way that the cold bites longingly into your skin during wintertime. His laugh was wonderful and sweet and it sounded the way peppermint tasted.

Roman caught himself up in his laugh before he snapped himself back to reality and found Virgil shaking off the last bit of his laugh and saw the emo smiling sweetly at Roman, his deep blue eyes sparkling with joy and…something harsher.

"Why are you laughing?" Roman finally found himself asking.

Virgil straightened himself and responded. "I just thought it was funny," He ran a hand through his hair, brushing his bangs out of his face before they fell over his eyes again. "I was coming to apologize to you for running off so suddenly." Virgil shuffled his feet and played with the edges of his sleeves. His laughing tone turned serious as he avoided Roman's eyes. "I'm really sorry for that. I had a lot on my mind and I freaked out. And if  _ you _ don't want to be friends, I understand...But I…" Virgil met Roman's eyes before looking back down at the ground. "I wouldn't mind if we hung out a bit."

Though Roman couldn't see his face, he could practically hear the shy smile that Virgil undoubtedly wore.

Mr. Sanders walked onto the stage and nearly ran over the two boys who were standing so close to the door.

"Gah!! Oh! So sorry there, boys!" Mr. Sanders caught Virgil's eye and quicker than needed, he left to center stage.

Roman, just barely, caught Virgil's pained and distressed expression before the emo threw his hood up over his head, obscuring his face.

"Alright class! Let's circle up!" Mr. Sanders called brightly.

Virgil walked over, his hood up and his hands stuffed into his pockets. He stalked over to the edge of the circle, as far away from the young theater teacher as possible. Roman followed, only to have an oblivious and lonely Rose shove herself between Roman and his very near new friend.

"Hey Ro, guess what?" Rose whispered.

Roman rolled his eyes. "What?"

"There's, like, a  _ really _ cute girl over there!!" She pointed to a tall blonde girl with a shy face and dark bracelets. Another emo, this one a little more subtle than the boy a few feet away from him. " _ Please _ be my super cool wingman!" She begged, jumping up and down.

Roman heard Virgil snort from behind Rose. "I-"

"Alright, class! Today we're going to continue with group juggling, but with a twist!" Mr. Sanders brought out a bag and took an orange tennis ball out. "It'll be just like last time, except we're going to have an order this time." He looked in the direction of Roman, but not at him. "Virgil!" He called to the boy with his hair in his face and tossed the orange ball to him.

Virgil had  _ not _ been ready for that. "What?" Virgil asked and only just barely saw the ball coming toward him. The panic was clear on his face as he struggled to catch the ball, eventually having it drop to the floor.

"What the  _ hell _ , Thomas!!" Virgil shouted. Roman watched as he saw something boil inside Virgil. "First, you show up in my life out of the  _ blue _ -"

"Virgil, now might not be the time to-"

" _ Fuck _ the 'Right time,' Thomas!” Virgil yelled. There was something raw and hurt in his voice that went so much deeper than being unready to catch a ball. “I can't  _ deal _ with this much longer!!"

Roman looked between the two and Mr. Sanders caught his eye. "Roman can you-?"

"Stop it! Stop trying to avoid the reality of things! You can’t just brush it off because it’s uncomfortable or you don’t fucking like it!” Virgil ran a distressed hand through his hair. It had seemed like he’d forgotten everyone was there.

Mr. Sanders’ eyes darted between his students and Virgil. His eyes landed again on Roman and the tall boy caught his pleading gaze.

_ Take the kids back to the classroom, so I can talk to Virgil? _ Mr. Sanders’ look was clear enough. At the very least, Roman knew to get the others out of the theater.

“Listen, Virgil! I  _ do _ want to talk about this! We  _ need  _ to talk about this!” Mr. Sanders said, Turning his full attention to Virgil as Roman started whispering to the kids, herding them off the stage.

“Then why  _ aren’t  _ yo-”

Virgil’s pained shouting was muffled almost entirely by the big metal doors that led off of stage left. Roman was almost glad that he couldn’t hear them anymore. Something about the way Virgil was yelling made Roman’s chest twist into a knot and his stomach churn.

Roman turned around and leaned against the heavy doors, letting a small breath out. He could still hear muffled shouts coming from the stage, though he couldn’t make out any words.

“Holy shit…” One girl said with a small laugh of disbelief. “Emo’s got some sort of real shit with teach, huh?”

“Hey!” Rman caught himself shouting, a little louder than intended. He calmed his voice and started again, softer. “I don’t know what’s up between Sanders and Virgil, but whatever it is it should blow over soon!” Roman kept his voice happy and light, but against the door he could hear something being thrown. Maybe a chair by the sound of it. Roman took another small breath. “Let’s just all head over to the classroom. I know some theater games we can play while we wait for Mr. Sanders and Virgil to get back.”

As they all walked over to the small black-box theater that they used as a theater classroom, Roman hung back a little, sparing one last glance at the doors to the stage before heading over with the rest of the class.

_ What the hell kind of second day of school  _ is  _ this?? _

~~•~~

Virgil had been dreading his theater class all day.

Roman had somehow,  _ miraculously _ , stopped Virgil’s ever racing heart for a few minutes.

And it wasn’t his fault.

Thomas’s, I mean.

He had just been trying to get through the day and had subconsciously picked Virgil.

It  _ was _ , however,  _ Virgil’s _ fault that he had exploded. Maybe it wasn’t  _ 100% _ his fault, as anxiety, nerves, and the pent up emotions of an anxious and nervous person do play a role in the doom of all things socially acceptable, but it was still his fault at the end of the day.

And so here they were.

Screaming.

Or at least Virgil was cause goddammit he couldn’t take it anymore.

All the hurt, all the betrayal, everything he had ever wanted that had been stolen from him, everything he had stuffed into little jars in his mind, all of it exploded.

Right then.

Right there.

And by  _ god _ did it hurt.

It hurt so badly.

It stung in his chest and burned in his throat and pricked at his eyes and pounded in his head and clawed at his lungs.

And it hadn’t been right for Virgil to blame Thomas.

But he had.

“Then why  _ aren’t  _ you talking about it?!” Virgil screamed.

"Because in the middle of my class is  _ not _ the right time or place, Virgil!! Take into consideration the other kids!!" Thomas raised his voice for the first time.

Virgil was upset. More than he thought he'd be. He turned to a chair and kicked it hard, sending it bouncing a few feet away.

Thomas's tone calmed again, but it was still shaky with emotion. "Virgil you need to  _ calm down _ , okay-?"

" _ No, dammit _ !!" Virgil shouted, tears pricking his eyes causing him to panic even more. "I'm sick and  _ tired _ of people telling me to calm down because they don't want to  _ deal with me _ !!" He ran a hand through his hair, his breath was shallow and hard. He caught Thomas's eyes and read pain, panic, and above them, regret. It hurt. If Thomas was like Virgil had thought he'd be, if Thomas had been cruel and spiteful, if he hated Virgil, it would have been easy.

But Thomas  _ cared _ .

And that hurt so much more.

"Why didn't you-"  _ why didn't you come and find me? _ "Why wasn't I-"  _ why wasn't I good enough for mom to let me read those letters? _ "Why couldn't I-"  _ why couldn't I have lived with my brother in my life?! _

Virgil could no longer stand as his legs gave out beneath him. The weight of everything in his mind had seemed to crush him.

It was awful.

It was bitter.

It made him nauseous.

Virgil sat crumpled on the ground and as his emotions raged inside him, he started to cry.

Virgil felt a hand on his shoulder and didn’t need to spare the glance at Thomas to know who it was. All he had to do was lean into him and let his older brother wrap his arms around him in a soft, comforting hug that smelled faintly of butterscotch and cinnamon. Virgil buried his face in Thomas’s shoulder and fought sobs.

This is what he missed out on.

This is what he never had.

This is what he wanted.

An older brother who cared about him.

And Thomas? He had only really known him for two days, barely. And yet he cared more for Virgil than anything Virgil had felt before then.

He felt for the first time ever that he belonged.

Thomas and Virgil sat there on the stage floor for a while longer, Thomas holding his younger brother in his arms and stroking his hair, Virgil sitting in his older brother’s arms and crying softly, slowly calming himself down.

When Virgil finally calmed down enough, Thomas unwrapped himself from around Virgil. “Alright. Feel better?” Virgil nodded and Thomas continued. “Now then. We have some things to talk about, I think.”

Vigil nodded again and the two stood up, walking to the edge of the stage apron and sitting down, letting their feet dangle over the edge.

“So,” Thomas started, looking out over the empty audience. “Are you okay, first of all, and second, do you want to talk about mom? Or would you rather talk about me and the letters first?”

Virgil took a shaky breath. “I’m alright. And I think I’d rather talk about...Mom...First…” Virgil was reluctant to admit there was anything at all wrong with his home life, but deep, way deep in the cold dark basements of his mind, the place where all the painful truths hide themselves, he knew that there was.

Thomas broke the silence. “Does she hide stuff from you often?”

Virgil nodded. “She removed the lock on my door when I was eight, too. I have this wooden doorstop that I created as a makeshift lock, but I can’t lock my door when I’m away at school.” Virgil looked at his brother. “Did she do stuff like that to you?” He asked tentatively.

“Yeah.” Thomas said, lowering himself down onto his back and staring up at the electrics that were hidden by the proscenium. “She’d read my journals and all the old angsty poems I wrote. She would drink and smoke all the time too.”

Virgil nodded sadly, lowering himself down next to his brother. “I mean she’s not all that bad. She cares about me, and feeds me, and makes sure there’s a roof over our head…”

“Despite that, it doesn’t necessarily make her a good person. She still doesn’t have any right to do what she did to you. If you hadn’t been her kid, she could be arrested for mail theft.” Thomas looked at his brother with a kind of protectiveness that only family harbors for one another. “The question I really need to ask you, Virgil, is this; Do you feel safe and happy at home?”

Virgil opened his mouth to answer yes, but found he couldn’t do it. His mother would drink most nights and smoke often. She’d come home with someone new as her date every two weeks. She would make him do most things downstairs where she could see him and if he wasn’t within direct eyeshot, would be checking in on him every ten minutes it seemed. He didn’t feel in  _ danger _ , but he didn’t feel safe. And he didn’t feel  _ unhappy _ , but he didn’t have very many happy memories of the house with the strange yellow door either.

Virgil shook his head. “No…” He choked out.

Thomas sat up. “I have a proposition for you, then.” Virgil sat up too. “For the time being, until you graduate, you’re free to come by and visit me, or spend the night whenever you’d like. Unannounced or otherwise.”

Virgil found himself lighting up at the prospect of being able to live with or at least visit his brother on a regular basis. He felt his face darken with doubt soon after though. “Really? For real? You’re not playing me here?”

Thomas looked at Virgil with a serious expression. “Virgil, I want you to be safe and happy, and I’ve wanted to be in your life from the very first moment I knew you existed. When I say you can come over whenever you’d like, I mean it.” Thomas pulled Virgil into a quick tight hug before continuing. “I want whatever’s best for you, and only you know that. I just want to make sure you have somewhere you can go to feel safe and happy.”

Virgil nodded. “I think…” He started, his mind whirling with possibilities and opportunities. “I think I’d like to come over and talk about the letters later today, Thomas.”

Thomas smiled. “I think that’s a splendid idea, Virgil.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I remember writing this chapter! I think it's one of my favorites just because of the heated fighting between Thomas and Virgil paired with Roman's concern for Virgil.  
> Also, seeing new people come to my story and comment on it gives me so much joy!! I see you! And there is so much more coming!  
> If you want to read the original version of Soulbound, you can find it on my tumblr @pixelatedrose!  
> I currently have 15 chapter written and there will definitely be more on the way!!


	6. Raining Stars and Two Mice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roman Prince and Logan Rose are soulmates. They’re platonic soulmates though. They both have the same Soul mark to prove it. But they both have one other soul mark, binding them to one other person. And when they find Patton Miles, it just so happens that they’re both his soulmates. Logan being his Soulbound Soulmate, and Roman being a platonic soulmate. But something feels missing. And it feels filled, shockingly so, when they meet a certain someone a year and a half after they found each other.

It was five minutes till the bell and 15 minutes ago Roman had given up on hoping Mr. Sanders and Virgil would come back. For all he knew they could have gone through a magical portal and would come back a day later and twice their ages and having gone incredible life changing journeys and Virgil would have realized too late that he wanted to be Roman's bestest friend in the entire world.

Of course if that happened Roman would be pissed cause  _ they went on a magical journey without him _ !!!

"SORRY CLASS!!" Mr. Sanders announced loudly, bursting through the door dramatically. Roman, who had been standing near the door, jumped nearly 5 feet in the air and suppressed a shriek, having it come out as a scream instead. Not much better.

The class laughed softly, and from behind the teacher, Roman saw Virgil.

And what a sight he was.

His eyes were tear streaked and red, but they danced with joy as he held back a laugh. It was like witnessing raining stars, if you know what that is; when the sun shines on falling hail, it looks like sparkling stars streaking from the heavens.

There were still the remnants of tears caught in his lashes and just the tip of his nose was red, matching his cheeks. And somehow, it was only then that Roman noticed his freckles, unmasked by tears and a lack of concealer.

He was beautiful.

And once again, Roman got caught up in the moment and had forgotten where he was and what had happened.

Virgil seemed to have caught Roman's staring and threw his hood over his head, obscuring his eyes, however failing to hide his shy smile that he thought he was so cleverly masking.

"Well! Sorry about that but it's all over now and I would sincerely appreciate it if you didn't mention this to people!" Mr. Sanders finally said when the class settled down.

Rose raised her hand. "I'll be happy to keep my mouth shut, but what happened exactly?"

Mr. Sanders hesitated and Roman saw Virgil, who was still behind in the hall, stiffen up and all joy flicker off his face, his eyes shimmering with an uncomfortable glaze.

Roman's emotions sizzled softly under his skin and he was about to turn on his friend when Mr. Sanders beat him to it, a much kinder tone than what would have come from Roman.

"That's something that I think can stay between me and my brother. Sorry, Rose."

Had Roman been drinking anything it would be long sprayed over the rest of the class.

_ Virgil and Mr. Sanders are  _ brothers _?! I mean I sort of knew they had the same last name, but Sanders is a common enough name!! _

Roman opened his mouth to voice his disbelief, not catching the horrified look on a small emo boy's face. "Wai-"

_ Ding!! Ding!! Ding!! _

Damn that bell.

"Alright class! That's it for today and don't forget that the syllabus needs to be signed by Monday!!" Mr. Sanders called to his students who were shuffling around the room now, grabbing their books and bags and slowly filing out of the room.

And swept up in the crowd, Roman lost sight of a purple haired boy with pale skin and pretty blue eyes.

Roman cursed under his breath but halfway back home he silently thanked the universe for sweeping the small boy away from him. Virgil had obviously been having a trying day. He didn't need a near stranger nagging him for information on his personal life after such a day.

~~•~~

Virgil could have melted into the ground then and there when Thomas had announced to the whole class that they were brothers. Luckily the bell saved him and before Roman inevitably came looking for him (he had every other time of the day) Virgil slipped into the crowd and disintegrated his presence.

He slipped into a side hall and watched Roman pass him by, a look of hot disappointment tracing his features. 

It stung a little to watch, but Virgil could deal with a tinge of regret for a few seconds if it meant he could escape the drama of the day for a breath or two.

After everyone was out of sight he turned around and went back into the classroom.

"There you are!" Thomas said happily. "I thought you'd ended up running home. Which would have been fine I mean, it's your choice after all." He rubbed the back of his neck, a sheepish and sloppy grin plastered on his face awkwardly.

Virgil nodded. "Yeah it's fine. I want to talk to you about the letters anyway." Sudden realization dawned Virgil's mind and he frantically ran a hand through his hair. "Oh  _ god _ of  _ course _ I overlooked things!!"

"Hey, is everything okay, Virgil?"

"Yeah...I mean no! I mean- ugh!!" Virgil threw his hood over his head once again. "Mom will freak out if she doesn't know where I am…" He looked up at Thomas who had disappointment glazing his eyes. Virgil tried to correct himself. "Oh!! No no, no I'll just tell her I'm at a friend's house!!" He nodded to himself. "Yeah that will work!"

Thomas looked at him. "Alright, I'll be in my office cleaning stuff up and then we can go if you're absolutely sure."

Virgil nodded and pulled out his phone. He opened the messaging app and clicked on his mother's profile picture. He never did like calling people. Even his mom. He'd rather send a text and plan out what he's going to say rather than be put on the spot.

He typed out a quick message and pressed send. Two seconds later Virgil's phone lit up with the call menu.  _ Mom _ was written across the top and his mother's smiling face was flashing at him.

_ Dammit, mom! Don't you know that texting is easier?! _

He answered the phone bringing the violent buzzing to a stop.

"Hheeeyyyy mom!" Virgil said awkwardly. Not that his mother noticed apparently.

"Virgey, honey! Tell me what is it that you're doing?" She sounded genuinely confused and Virgil had to hold himself back from facepalming.

"Mom, I sent you a text…"

"Oh I know, baby, it's just that mummy would rather hear it from you and not some computer thing."

"Mom it's literally the same thing."

"Oh it is? Oh...Well I wanted to hear your voice anyway!"

Virgil rubbed the bridge of his nose before returning to the phone. "It's fine mom! I just wanted to go and hang out and study at a friend's house. That's all."

There was a pause on the line and Virgil knew he'd met his doom. Of  _ course _ she wasn't going to let him!! He should have just walked straight home and not looked back, he should have-

"Oh honey!! You've already made friends?!"

It was like being shot through the skull.  _ Virgil you idiot you don't have any friends. How can you go over to a friend's house if the friends don't fucking exist. _

"Yep!! I've already made a friend!" Virgil lied through his teeth, sweating bullets.

"Aww!! My baby's growing up and making friends!! What's their name? What are you studying?? Who are they???"

_ Shit, shit, shit, fuck, uhhhh….. _ Virgil thought desperately of someone he could use as a friend. And before he had completed the thought in his mind, his mouth started forming words.

"Roman Prince." Virgil said confidently.

_ Wait fuck no- _

"Oh that's lovely! Well you have fun with your new  _ friend _ darling dear!! I'm expecting you home by 5:30 for dinner!!" His mother squealed, the way she half sighed half giggled the word 'Friend' sending warm shivers across his cheeks. He knew he didn't have any friends but it wasn't something to  _ swoon  _ over!! Virgil heard the call end and he was left with a hot, embarrassed blush across his face and his mouth open like he was ready to catch something in it.

"She was overly excited and way too quick to accept it wasn't she?" Thomas asked, coming out of his office with a shoulder bag.

Virgil shook himself back to the present and nodded his head. "Yeah…"

"Yep she's like that. Doesn't care where you are but cares way too much about what you're doing. She'll probably try and read any journals you keep tonight. Either that or she won't leave you alone during dinner."

"She was like that when you were a kid too?"

"Oh yeah. Deva doesn't seem to have changed much, if I'm being honest. And it's only more clear now why dad left her…"

"Oh...She's...She's not  _ that _ bad, is she?"

"I mean in my opinion yes. But I can't force you to think things."

"Right…"

Virgil arrived at Thomas's place after a car ride full of belting out Disney songs as loud as possible and talking about the darker meanings behind each movie, and Virgil just felt that much more comfortable around his brother.

"And welcome to my humble abode, brother Virgil!" Thomas said theatrically.

Virgil rolled his eyes. "I see why you're the theater teacher, now."

Thomas smiled before cupping his hands around his mouth. "GUSS-GUSS, JAQ, I'M HOME!!"

"You have roommates?"

"Yeah but they don't pay rent. And they're a mess to clean up after."

"That doesn't sound like they're good roomies…"

"Oh they make up for it by being cute."

Thomas walked up the stairs waving Virgil to follow. He rounded into a room that was sure to be his bedroom and flicked on the lights, strutting over to a cage on the far wall.

Virgil took the time to drink in the room and Thomas' s house. It was nice, and it smelled more like home than "home" ever did to Virgil.

Thomas returned holding two fluffy objects in his hands. "This is Guss-Guss and Jaq!" He said bubbly. He held out his hands which were clasped warmly and safely around two mice. "Like I said, they make up for not paying rent by being cute!"

If Virgil didn't have pride he would have cooed and melted at the sight of the puffballs. "Can I…?" He gestured in an odd way that somehow got his point across.

"Yes! Yes you can hold them!" Thomas was delighted.

He handed Virgil the two soft rodents and Virgil squeaked in delight, reminiscent of the mice themselves.

~~•~~

An hour later, after eating leftover cake, watching Thomas try (and fail) to slide down his banister majestically, and talking about emo bands they were (or are in Virgil's case) into, Virgil and Thomas sat on the couch in the living room, Virgil absently feeding Guss-Guss little bits of coconut shavings.

"So," Thomas began, Jaq falling asleep in his shirt pocket. "You wanted to talk about the letters? What do you want to talk about?"

"I don't really know…" Virgil confessed. "I guess I just wanted to talk about them to get to know you better, but I don't know...I already feel like I know you." Virgil paused to pick up the mouse in his lap and delicately placed him on his shoulder. "The other thing was that I wanted to answer all the questions you asked me. But it feels silly just listing them off myself, so-"

"What's your favorite color?" Thomas interrupted Virgil, a faint and warm smile on his face.

"What?"

"What's your favorite color? It was one of the first questions I asked in a letter I think." Thomas's words were soft but his eyes were beaming, as if he was the most clever person ever. "So. What's your favorite color?"

Virgil smiled widely. "Purple!"

Two hours later Virgil was being dropped off. He had talked the entire time about things they did, stories Thomas had missed out on, and Virgil's interests. It so happened that Thomas shared a lot of them. They almost got caught up talking about Avatar the last airbender for nearly half an hour towards the end of their talk, and still had a million things they wanted to know.

"Hey drop me off here!" Virgil asked.

"Why? Your house is still a block away."

"I know, but I don't want mom to know I was with you."

"Ah. That makes a little more sense." Thomas pulled over and let Virgil out of the car.

Virgil did a double take before running up to the drivers side window and reaching through, giving his older brother the best hug he could from where he was.

"Thanks, Thomas. I'll see you tomorrow!"

"See you tomorrow, Virge!!" Thomas called out to the purple haired boy.

_ Virge… _ Virgil had never actually been called Virge before. His mother always ended it with a cutesie "y" at the end, making him feel like a toddler.

He found that he enjoyed the way Virge sounded.

It suited him.

He liked it.

~~•~~

A boy called Deceit sat in his room thinking. He wanted to get the purple haired boy to be his new  puppet friend  victim . He stood up and crossed his room, fishing a clean notebook out of an all too messy desk, in the process disturbing the bracelets on his wrist causing a hint of a tattoo to catch the light.

The boy called Deceit panicked and dropped the notebook, slapping a hand down around his wrist. He took a few calming breaths and adjusted his bracelets again. He picked up his notebook and began writing everything he knew about the purple haired boy down.

_ He's reserved. _

_ But not afraid to talk back. _

_ He's been through shit  _

_ He seems fairly depressed and easy to manipulate. _

_ He's drawn to Roman Prince. That's a problem. I can probably fix that with time. _

_ He's the new drama teacher's little brother. And at least  _ I _ 'm not an idiot like the rest of this dull lot and  _ I _ know who the new teach is. _

_ I could use that too. _

__ A short boy who was called Deceit thought back to Roman Prince and how he was tied up in all of this when a grand idea struck him as he scribbled out what he had previously written about the semi-popular boy.

_ Oh I can use that. _

_ Oh now  _ this _ will be a fun game to play!! _

~~•~~

Patton got home from school that day, a little sad that he wasn't able to walk home with Logan that day. His boyfriend had said that he wanted to start going to Chess Club as soon as possible and heaven  _ knows _ that Chess Club is  _ B O R I N G _ .

It had been a particularly odd day for Patton, emotions-wise. He had a slight prickle of dread in him for the first half, followed by tiny warm fuzzies that didn't last too long. That was replaced by more dread bubbles that burst into full blown betrayal and regret by the time 6th period was rolling around.

It had evened out though, Patton felt unusually happy and content for the rest of the day. It had been a weird few days, but it wasn't something he could help.

Hormones, amiright?

Patton flopped down onto his bed and sighed happily. It had been a long while since he had been this blissfully content with his life. He glanced over at his fishtank- He was allergic to cats and his parents wouldn't let him have a dog no matter how much he begged, so he settled for fish.

Fish and dogs were basically the same thing, right? I mean there was such a thing as a catfish so dogfishes must also exist.

Patton giggled happily to himself as he imagined a fish on a leash, floppy little dog ears sprouting from its scaley head.

Something felt right.

Something felt calm.

It felt like there were going to be good days ahead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay!! We got some good feelies in this chapter!!  
> Don't worry, the whole story isn't all angst, however the first two arcs are very angsty. I just finished writing the second arc so by the time I catch up to where I am now, you can look forward to a slightly more lighthearted arc!  
> In the meantime I hope you're liking Soulbound!! Both new readers and old!


	7. Friends, As One Might Say

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roman Prince and Logan Rose are soulmates. They’re platonic soulmates though. They both have the same Soul mark to prove it. But they both have one other soul mark, binding them to one other person. And when they find Patton Miles, it just so happens that they’re both his soulmates. Logan being his Soulbound Soulmate, and Roman being a platonic soulmate. But something feels missing. And it feels filled, shockingly so, when they meet a certain someone a year and a half after they found each other.

Logan Rose woke up with a bit of a start. He glanced around his room wildly, everything appearing fuzzy without his glasses. He calmed himself down before pulling the cord on his bedside lamp and examining his arm.

It was bare and pale as always, save for his tattoo that depicted Patton's name.

Despite everything, Logan let out a shaky breath. He  _ knew _ it was illogical. And that only bothered him more.

_ It's just a dream, Logan. Nothing is wrong. _ Logan picked up a book on the ground in spite of himself and began reading. However he found- as he always did- that he was unable to read much further than a few pages.

"It's just a dream...It was nothing but amalgamated memories and images…It wasn't...It  _ can't  _ have been…" Logan took another deep breath to steady himself.

And once again resorted to the only method that ever seemed to work.

He flipped open a small journal and began writing down his dream with as much detail as possible.

It had been another nightmare. He had been sobbing on the floor of a foriegn room before dragging himself over to an all too familiar box under the bed where he fished out a pencil sharpener blade and had-

Logan paused for a moment in his writing. He always hated writing about his nightmares. It was necessary for him to fall back asleep, but it was so hard sometimes.

Every once in a while Logan Rose had acutely vivid dreams about ordinarily mundane things that didn't seem to make sense. 

Seeing people he'd never seen before at a birthday party he'd never attended. 

A dark room that slowly got edgier as time wore on filled with a multitude of different events. Most of them less than savory and quite traumatic. 

A kid, taller than Logan, pushing him to the ground and pulling him back up by his hair only to have someone else spit in his face.

These dreams made no sense to Logan. Dreams were supposed to be concoctions of memories, images, ideas, and emotions. Logan's brain should not be able to create such a vivid image of a house he'd never seen before. And yet Logan would have remembered if he'd ever seen the odd house with the strange yellow door that his mind so often brought up.

Logan finished writing down his nightmare in his dream journal and set it down once again, rubbing his tired eyes. He glanced over at one of his many bookcases, sighing at the vast amount of dream journals he had filled up over the years.

He had started cataloging his dreams back in fourth grade when his mother had suggested that writing about his dreams would help him remember them and even sleep better. So now Logan had nearly 6 years worth of journals filled to the brim with dream after dream after dream. Even if he could never remember what he had dreamed that night, he always wrote down that he was unable to recall any details.

Logan lay himself back down to sleep as he quietly pondered his vivid dreams and what they could possibly mean, if anything at all.

_ That's absolutely ludicrous. Dreams don't  _ mean  _ anything. They're just dreams. _ As he drifted off once again, Logan found himself with a ghost of doubt cast across his mind.

_ Just dreams… _

Logan Rose fell asleep, his mind conjuring up recipes that called for memories, images, sounds, ideas, and emotions.

~~•~~

Roman woke up to his alarm which he lazily slapped, sending it snoozing. Five minutes later it started yelling again, and this time Roman reluctantly rolled himself out of bed. Quite literally in fact. He had found it always helped him wake up.

He hit the floor dramatically and lay down on the floor for a few minutes staring at his ceiling.

Roman suddenly was struck by a brilliant idea and he sat up straight and got ready for the day as quick as possible.

"Heya Ro-Bro! Sleep like a corpse?" Remus asked as Roman came down the stairs.

"Why would you phrase it like that? Like actually why??"

"Because it's interesting and you're boring so i have to be interesting for the both of us!!"

Roman watched his twin brother sprinkle poptart crumbs into the omlet he was cooking and grimaced. "Well you  _ sure _ do a good job of  _ that _ one…"

"Hey, Ro, have you seen the dandelions?"

Roman paused for a brief moment. "Why the fuck are you eating dandelions?"

"You absolute shitheaded moron it's for Brigit."

Roman flushed. "Oh." He had been thinking of Virgil again and his head was still mushy from sleep. "In the fridge…"

Remus turned and pulled out a small bag of dandelions before hopping over to a glass tank which contained a small tortoise. "Roman's an idiot, isn't he Brigit? Isn't he?" Remus cooed at his tortoise, dropping three of the four flowers in along with a small pile of lettuce before looking at the fourth flower and asking out loud. "Hey, dandelions are edible, right??"

And before Roman had time to violently judge his brother, Remus shoved the entire fucking flower in his mouth like the absolute heathen he was.

"Hey, not too bad." Roman's trash-man of a brother said, walking over to his slowly burning food.

"I swear to god I don't know  _ how _ we're related…" Roman muttered, returning his mind to a much more savory person.

~~•~~

Roman got to school and met up with his friends. He debated skipping a few steps in his plan and looking for him right then, but decided against it. He didn't want to come off seeming like a creep.

So he waited until his third period rolled around and felt his eyes light up as they fell to the emo boy scrunched up in the back corner of the classroom. Something was definitely brighter about Virgil today. Maybe it was the new hoodie he was wearing or the fresh makeup on his face, or perhaps it was the way he looked rested or the fact that he was nodding along to his music and silently mouthing the words, but Roman was unreasonably happy to see Virgil in a good mood.

“Good morning, Hot Topic! You’re looking splendid today!” Roman bubbled, winking at the mass of emo that sat at the table.

Virgil snorted and looked up at him. “Aw, you think I’m hot!”

“On the contrary! I was talking to my reflection!”

“Ah, that makes more sense. I put too much faith in you to think you’d ever stop being self-absorbed!”

“Hey! You’ve only known me for what, two days?”

Virgil shifted in his seat, having taken out his earbuds already. “I tend to be a pretty good judge of character.”

“Is that so?”

“Yep.”

Roman took his chance to strike. “Well I bet you wouldn’t be able to judge my friend’s characters off of one glance!” Roman smiled at Virgil, missing the way the other’s shoulders relaxed when he spoke. “Want to join me with my friends at lunch?”

Roman patiently awaited the inevitable decline. It was part of his plan. He would laugh it off and be charming as ever and continue to pester him until he-

“Sure.” Virgil said casually, a hint of a smile on his face. 

_ What. _

“You seem like a cool guy, I guess. Should I meet you by the cafeteria?”

Roman’s head was a jumbled mess and where he had been planning on being charming, he had fallen end over end down the stairs of grace and was drowning in his own pool of poor planning.

“Uh, uhm, n-no I’ll just meet you outside your class!” Roman had just barely been able to save the end of that sentence. He had not expected the emo boy to accept his offer so quickly. He thought the boy was shy and reserved, didn’t like talking to people. Curiosity to know what made the emo boy trust him overtook Roman. “Would it be terribly rude of me to ask why you’d want to come and eat with a bunch of people you hardly know?”

Virgil shrugged. “I dunno. I just kinda…” He turned and pulled up his hood. “Feel like I can trust you. I also don’t really have anyone else, so I mean I don’t have many options.” he lowered his voice to the point where Roman wouldn’t have been able to hear the emo. “And if I at least look like I have friends maybe people will leave me alone this time around…”

It worked and Roman hadn’t heard his breathless whisper. “Oh! Well I’m touched! In fact I think-”

_ Ding!! Ding!! Ding!! _

Damn that bell.

Class began and Roman didn’t get the chance to mention that he and Patton shared a class. A minor detail, but he was irrationally disappointed that he couldn’t keep talking to his newfound...Friend.

Roman thought.  _ Friend? Am I not jumping the gun by considering us friends this early on? What would Virgil think? Would he be okay with it? Would he be disgusted? _ Roman’s mind filled with the image of Roman calling the boy his friend and Virgil smiling widely, happy to be his friend. Roman let himself smile too.

The period ended and Roman said his farewells to Virgil. Roman pulled out his phone between classes and brought up the group chat.

_ Hey I’m bringing a friend of mine to come and sit with us at lunch kk _

It was just a few moments before his phone buzzed quietly in his hands.

_ Pat-man: OOOooooOOOooOOoo~~!! _

_ Pat-man: A *friend* you say? *nudge nudge wink wink* _

Each of his texts were signed with a series of emojis, ranging from hearts to faces.

Roman typed out a text, leaning against the wall outside his classroom.

_ Yes Padre, a FRIEND _

_ Nothing more than that! I swear you rwad into things way to much _

His Phone buzzed again and Roman looked at the new text.

_ Pocket-protector: First off, you misspelled 'Read' and second, you used the wrong 'Too'. Third, if you're speaking of the boy you have gone on about for the past two days, then- _

The bell rang and Roman silently thanked it for saving him the time to read Logan's perfectly composed letter of a text filled with perfect grammar.

The hours ebbed by anguishingly slow, it seemed the more he wanted to see the pale boy the more the weights the universe attached to time's ankles.

Finally-  _ finally _ \- the hour struck three minutes till the bell and Roman silently excused himself knowing that the abandoned hall pass in his pocket that would free him of suspicion.

He got to Virgil’s classroom just in time for the bell to ring and for Roman to quickly lean himself up against the lockers casually.

Virgil walked out and seemed almost surprised to see Roman standing there before a ghost of a smile adorned his pale face.

“Honestly, you don’t have to skip out of class early just to wait for me.” Virgil said as he walked up to the taller boy.

“I know, but it wouldn’t be very chivalrous of me to leave my new friend wandering through the halls with no guide!” Roman smiled and the pair started walking towards the cafeteria.

“And so that would make you my knight in shining armor?” Virgil teased.

“No, I like to think of myself as more of a prince.”

Virgil snorted back his laughter. “But I thought they gave princes education! They’re doing a miserable job rearing you.”

“Ha, ha. Very funny, Jerky Mcjerk-face.”

“Ouch! Is  _ that _ the best comeback you have for me,  _ Princey _ ?” Before, Virgil had called Roman by the theatrical nickname in a friendly manner, now his tone was mocking him, a soundless giggle twinkling in his blue eyes.

Roman  _ hrumphed _ and crossed his arms. “Sometimes I’m not entirely on point with my words! I’m human! Even someone as flawless as me can make mistakes!”

Virgil barked out a short laugh. “Ha!!  _ Flawless _ ! I should bring you up on charges for false advertising!”

“Then maybe I should do the same with you, Surly-Temple!  _ You’re _ not as shy as you seem, are you?”

“Who ever said I was  _ shy _ ? I just don’t like people.”

“Oh…” Roman internally cursed at his lack of words. He  _ had _ jumped to conclusions. It was a simple mistake, but it reminded Roman of another thing he should try and fix. He shook it off easily. “Well in that case I’m sure you’ll have no problem introducing yourself to my friends!” He led Virgil through the thick of the now bustling and ever so loud cafeteria to a table in the back near one of the backdoors leading outside. It was a small circular table, like all the others in the room, perfect for a friend group to claim and have no one else intrude.

Patton and Logan were already sitting down and chatting about what sounded like the emotional and psychological repercussions of being torn from your dimension and being thrown into another. A very fascinating topic to say the least.

“Hey, Padre! Pocket protector!” Roman announced as they neared the table. Roman noticed out of the corner of his eye Virgil throwing up his hood. “I must introduce to you all, a one Virgil Sanders!” Roman theatrically bowed and gestured toward the purple haired boy next to him.

Patton stood up immediately and flounced over to the boy. “Hi!! My name’s Patton, but you can just call me Dad!!” He said with a wink as he held out his hand for Virgil to shake. Virgil seemed to relax as he took the shorter boy’s hand in his.

“Virgil. It’s nice to meet you, Patton.” He smiled lightly.

Logan had stood as well, letting Virgil come to him. “Logan Rose. A pleasure.” He said politely, extending his own hand. Vigil accepted it and the group started to settle in.

“You know, Virgil, I think I have the same second period as you!” Patton slipped in as they started taking their seats.

Virgil seemed to think for a brief second. “Oh, I guess so. I guess nice to  _ re _ -meet you, then.” He slowly took off his hood and faced Patton who was seated across from him. “Sorry I didn’t recognize you, I tend to not pay attention to stuff like that.”

“It’s fine! I think it’s great we have a class together! It means less boring moments in the day!”

Logan was staring at Virgil and he started speaking. “You know, You look familiar to me as well...Do we not share a fifth class together? Ap english in Mr. Evan’s class, if I am correct?”

Virgil blinked. “Uh...Yeah...So I guess I have a class with each of you then...What are the odds?” Virgil gave a small laugh.

“Infinitesimal.” Logan replied before biting into his sandwich.

“Oh speaking of which, do you remember what was taught yesterday? I was trying to do my homework and sort of forgot what he’d said…”

“I remember absolutely nothing but I do remember he was wearing a pink shirt with a green belt and was disgusted. I may not be one for fashion, but even  _ I _ know that was a horrific choice.”

The table erupted into several different kinds of laughter. A loud booming one from Patton, a softer but clear one provided by Roman, and a light chuckle emitted by Virgil.

Lunch wore on and It seemed like Virgil really connected with everyone.

He was in a brighter mood for the rest of the day as he walked off with Logan, discussing fan theories about doctor who and sherlock, and then happier still when he met up with Roman in the theater and got to have his older brother teach him for what seemed like the first actual time.

And as Virgil bid his farewells, Roman called out to him.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Virge!!” He yelled across the courtyard, waving happily at his new friend.

“Cya!!” Virgil called back, feeling happy and warm inside.

Virgil had never even had friends before, and for some reason, having only just met them a few hours ago, felt like these friends were ones that were going to last. He felt so right when he was with them. It felt so right when he would hear Logan talking about one subject or another, or when Patton made a dad joke or pun, or when Roman did something charmingly stupid or funny. It felt  _ right _ being with them.

And for someone who’s never felt right in their life, Virgil felt as though it was all too much to actually be real.

But for once, He didn't worry about that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey!! Sorry I didn't get a chapter out yesterday, so in response I'll release two today!  
> I'm still genuinely excited for new people to come read this! Soulbound is my baby~  
> Anyway I hope you're enjoying the story so far!!


	8. Movie Night And a Few Dumb Cats

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roman Prince and Logan Rose are soulmates. They’re platonic soulmates though. They both have the same Soul mark to prove it. But they both have one other soul mark, binding them to one other person. And when they find Patton Miles, it just so happens that they’re both his soulmates. Logan being his Soulbound Soulmate, and Roman being a platonic soulmate. But something feels missing. And it feels filled, shockingly so, when they meet a certain someone a year and a half after they found each other.

"OH my GOSH WAIT A MOMENT!!" Patton yelled, nearly scaring Logan into dropping his food.

Virgil had been going to lunch with Roman and the others for a few weeks now and was starting to grow comfortable around them. Or moreso. He was okay with being in the lunchroom at the very least, and for Virgil, that was a big step.

"What is it, Pat?" Roman asked, looking up from his sandwich.

"I just realized Virge here has never been to one of our movie nights!!" Patton exclaimed with wide hands, nearly hitting Logan into dropping his food once again. "He  _ has _ to come to the next one!!"

Virgil smothered a smile that tried to creep its way onto his face. "Okay, when?" He asked casually, hiding how nervous he was.

Patton thought for a moment. "Well we haven't had one in a little while since school started and all….hey does this Friday work for everyone?"

Logan thought for a moment before nodding and Roman pulled out his phone to check his calendar. "Yeah that works! I thought maybe dramafest auditions were then, but that's monday." Roman concluded, putting his phone away.

Virgil chuckled softly to himself. "You have a calendar in your phone? What are you, a secretary?"

Roman flushed and turned away. "...It was Logan's idea, and it's working okay…"

Something got recalled in Virgil's mind.

_ "I  _ do _ suffer from Always Dumb and Hot Disorder, so I suppose you're right." Roman said with a flicker of charm. _

_ "Wait what??" Virgil had been caught off guard. _

_ "Always Dumb and Hot Disorder! ADHD! I mean I  _ am _ pretty hot." _

Oh god.

Oh  _ no _ .

"Shit, Roman, I'm sorry I forgot! You only-" Virgil frantically apologized.

Roman held up his hand, smiling. "No no! It's fine. I only mentioned my adhd once in passing, it's fine! I honestly don't mind too much!" He smiled brightly at his purple haired friend.

Virgil still felt horrid. He had completely disregarded his first and one of his only friend's disorder and had undoubtedly offended him irreparably. Virgil would never be Roman's friend ever again. He should just go hide in the bathroom for lunch now. He should-

"Yo, Virge? Space-case, you doing good?" Roman asked, waving a hand in front of Virgil's face.

Virgil snapped out of his thoughts and looked at the table. Logan was trying once again to eat his food, Patton looked like he was hiding anxious guilt about something, and Roman masked his concern with a flashy smile.

“Uh, yeah.” Virgil shook his head slightly. “Yeah, I’m fine. Friday works for me too, Pat.”

Patton clapped his hands. “Great! Whose house we gonna do it at this time? I hosted last.”

Logan raised his hand absentmindedly. “I can take on that responsibility. My mother will be working late that day, so we will be fairly undisturbed all night.”

“Great! So-”

_ Ding!! Ding!! Ding!! _

Damn that bell.

Virgil got up and said his goodbyes to Patton and promised Roman that he’d see him in an hour. He left with Logan and the rest of the day went smoothly.

~~•~~

“Oh wow, so they invited you to a movie night?” Thomas asked, packing up his stuff, Virgil having said his goodbyes to Roman.

Today was one of the days Virgil would go and spend the afternoon with Thomas. They had set it up so every other day Virgil would be going to ‘Roman Prince’s’ house to study. Virgil honestly always ended days he was with Thomas much cleaner than days he just came straight home.

Virgil nodded. “Yep. Patton got all bubbly and such, it was adorable.”

Thomas nodded, leading Virgil out of the classroom to start walking toward his car. “That’s great!! Honestly that’s amazing!! And hey, if you ever want to do a movie night, I’m more than happy to let you use my place!” He smiled brightly at his younger brother, forcing Virgil to wonder how Thomas was ever a stranger. “I have a pretty impressive collection of disney movies, after all!”

“Oh I think everyone and their unborn children know  _ that _ one, Thomas!”

“Shush, just let me impress you!”

“Never!”

“You leave me no choice then, Brother!”

“No!! You would never!”

“Oh but I would!”

“Not your sub count!!!”

“Oh no, I have something  _ worse _ than that!! I have...my  _ friends _ !!” Thomas flexed, showing off the two tattoos on his arms.

Virgil threw a hand against his head and fell against Thomas, forcing the taller man to catch him. One of the few times Virgil was theatrical. "Nooo!! You killed meee!! Thomas how could youuu?!"

"Why are you never this active during class?" Thomas said, pushing his brother off of him.

"Because I have social anxiety and I'm a coward."

"Oh so being with me doesn't count as being social?"

"You know the difference!!"

"I know!! I'm just giving you a hard time, Virge!"

The two spent the day at Thomas's house chatting and messing around before Thomas dropped Virgil off a block away from the house with the strange yellow door and dark wooden walls.

Virgil had a semi-pleasant night too, before he started hyper stressing about what he had said to Roman. One thing led to another and soon regrettable yet familiar choices were made.

It happened more often than Virgil liked to admit.

And he had told his mother once and she pinned it on attention seeking.

If his own mother thought he was an attention whore, then who's to say that everyone else would think so too?

It wasn’t a big deal anyway. It happened all the time. It was fine, no need to really worry.

The next day Virgil woke up completely fine. Sleep always did help. Though it was this morning that Virgil realized that he was now a day away from spending an entire evening at Logan’s house with Roman and Patton too.

It was no longer just a few hours.

Sure, they weren’t spending the night or anything, but it was still at least four hours!!

It was practically the entire fucking day!!

What if Virgil made a huge mistake, like he had yesterday with Roman? What if he accidentally broke something?? Oh god what if he said something  _ stupid _ ?!

Second period rolled around and Patton had immediately asked him what was wrong.

“How do you always know?” Virgil asked tiredly.

Patton shrugged. “I dunno. I just get these vibes from you. They don’t feel too stellar right now.”

Virgil sighed. “Just a little worried about this whole movie night thing…”

Virgil had expected to hear Patton gasp or retort or tell him immediately that there was nothing to be worried about. But Patton just smiled softly and nodded his head. “Well, do you want to talk about it? If you don’t that’s fine too, I understand sometimes you gotta figure stuff out on your own, ya know?”

Virgil didn’t have many words anymore. Patton, for being so loud and boisterous, was so gentle and kind and soft, Virgil was starting to think the world didn’t really deserve someone like that.

“Well...I guess I’m just worried that something will go wrong, you know?” Virgil started, rubbing the back of his neck. “Despite the fact that you guys are pretty wonderful, I’ve only known you for a few weeks. I guess I’m worried I’ll mess something up and you’ll, I don’t know, throw me out or something…” Virgil wasn’t really used to  _ talking  _ about his feelings, and the soft words that came tumbling from his mouth felt odd in his head. But it wasn’t a bad thing.

Patton nodded. “Well, I can promise you we won’t just kick you out of our group! If we did, know that we’ve all been replaced by super dangerous aliens that are out to destroy the world.” Virgil laughed softly before Patton continued. “But for real, tons of stuff can go wrong.” Virgil felt his heart rate rise dramatically at that. But Patton, the miracle worker he was, managed to calm it down. “But only if you look at it in that way. Maybe the tv will be broken. Well now instead of a movie night, we can play board games!! Or maybe the popcorn gets burned, but now we have an excuse to make cookies together!! Anything can be turned good if you look at it with the right eyes. So  _ what  _ if you said something a little stupid, we can turn it into a joke and we could be laughing at it for years to come! And besides, I doubt anything you could do or say would be completely irreparable. We all love you Virgil!”

That was it.

Patton was a fucking angel in disguse.

Change Virgil’s mind.

In fact, what Patton had said would touch Virgil so much that later that night, he would write it down and put it in his box of treasures, a box which at current, only contained the letters Thomas had written him and a single photo of his father.

Virgil reached over and gave Paton a hug, something that Virgil rarely initiated. “Thanks, Pat. I really needed that.” Virgil said after he separated himself from the golden haired boy.

Patton smiled brightly at Virgil. “Aw, no problem, Vee! I’m more than glad to help you whenever!”

Virgil felt warm and happy inside. He felt safe and accepted with Patton. It felt right talking to him.

Second period ended and third started.

“Hey, you look cheerier than normal, Count Woe-laf! Had a nice chat with Pat or something?” Roman asked as he came in to sit next to Virgil.

Virgil nodded slightly. “Yeah, I guess you could say that.”

And left it at that. Soon they two were talking about what it would be like if you had wings instead of arms.

~~•~~

After lunch that day, Logan had distractedly asked him if he was allergic to cats.

“No…? Why?” Virgil had asked.

However Logan had gotten sucked into his own little mind of planning things to perfection, not hearing or choosing to ignore Virgil’s question.

That night, while Virgil was writing down what Patton had said to him, he was struck with the sudden and dreadful realization that he would have to ask his mom for permission.

He made his way downstairs to the livingroom with seeping apprehension in his throat.

“Oh, hey, Virgey! How’s my darling doing?” His mother asked, Virgil cringing at the nickname she gave him. When did he start doing that?

“Oh, well, nothing really, mom. I was just invited to hang out and watch some movies with my friends tomorrow and was wondering if that was okay…” Virgil started awkwardly, not really knowing how else or what else to say.

He watched as his mother’s face lit up. “Oh my god, you made  _ more _ friends?! Oh my goodness gracious, Virgey, I’m so happy for you!!” His mother got up and smothered him in a hug he didn’t ask for. “You can go ahead and go! But be back by 11:30, at the  _ latest _ okay? If you come home at 11:45 I’m going to have to move curfew to 10:30!” His mother clapped her hands. “Oh my!! I’m having to set curfew now, isn’t that exciting!! Now run along and go get some sleep, honey cakes! Mummy’s had a long day and needs a little smoke! Okay goodnight deary!” Her words came one after the other, so fast it was a miracle they weren’t tripping over one another to launch themselves out of her mouth.

That night Virgil thought of every little thing that could go wrong. And as he went to retrieve a familiar box from under his bed, his eyes traveled to a much less familiar box. The box that contained all the important things to him.

He reached for that box instead and opened it, taking out the newest addition to its contents.

And for what felt like the first time in years, Virgil was okay that night.

~~•~~

Virgil was very much on edge the entire day, save for the times he was with Patton.

“Just breath, kiddo. It’s going to be alright…” Patton soothed Virgil during third period. “Hey, I know how scary it can be coming into a group of friends that have been together for a long time! Trust me I know it’s not easy.”

Virgil tried to breath but found it was getting harder, like the air in the room was being squeezed out through any means necessary.

Patton looked like he was ready to start panicking too, his eyes darting around the room. “Uh...Uh….” His face finally lit up and he reached into his bag. Patton held out his hand to Virgil, something small in his freckled hands. “Here, eat a mint!!” He said enthusiastically.

“What?” Virgil was shocked for a moment.  _ Eat a mint?? What the fuck?? _ Virgil accepted the mint and popped it into his mouth. Artificial cold seeped and swam around his mouth as he slowly sucked on the sharp mint.

After a little while, Virgil asked for another mint.

“It worked, didn’t it?” Patton said happily. His joy was unrealistically infectious and Virgil smiled too.

“Yeah...Why  _ did _ that work?” Virgil asked, taking the second mint.

“Well, to be honest I didn’t know if it would work right.” Patton said. “I saw a post once that said that if you’re having a panic attack, you should suck on an ice cube. Because one, at first your brain is like ‘what the heck? Why?’ and will distract you a little bit from the anxiety. Two, the cold will shock your system, and will bring you back to the real world and will make you focus on the cold in your mouth rather than your worries. Something like that, I can’t remember it word for word, but it was a good post.”

Virgil nodded. “Hey actually, can I take a few more mints?”

When Roman started talking about how excited he was to have Virgil at one of their movie nights, Virgil popped another mint into his mouth and thought warmly of Patton.

The rest of the day went fairly smoothly, Patton smiling brightly and warmly at Virgil when he saw him eat another mint from the stash he had in his pocket.

At the end of the day, Virgil said his goodbyes to Thomas and walked with Roman to meet the others.

Apparently, Logan lived within walking distance of the school, so while they walked, Virgil hung back a bit, hoping no one would notice.

He was nervous as all hell and ran out of mints to suck on a while ago back in theater class. Virgil threw his hood over his head and pulled his sleeves over his hands, crumpling the too-long ends in his grasp.

He ended up being very good at hiding his impending doom as Logan and Roman stayed ahead, chatting about some theater production.

Patton, however, noticed. He seemed particularly on point recently.

“Heya, kiddo. How you holding up?” Patton asked, falling into step beside Virgil.

“Fine, I guess…” Patton’s face was plain with a ‘don’t give me that shit’ look and Virgil backtracked. “I’m still nervous. Like a lot nervous, Pat. Like ‘please I think I’d rather go find a ditch to die in’ nervous.” Virgil was over exaggerating mildly, but Patton’s look of unbridled concern made him correct himself. “No, sorry. It’s not quite that bad.”

“Do you want me to tell the others you don’t want to go? They’d be perfectly fine with it, I’m sure. I just want to make sure  _ you’re _ okay with it.” Patton was so sincere and so kind, Virgil didn’t know how he survived in high school.

Virgil shook his head. “I’m nervous, but I think I’ll manage. Besides, I like hanging out with all of you. If I didn’t, I’d have made up an excuse to why I can’t go.” Virgil chuckled softly and his grip on his sleeves loosened.

Patton’s eyes were all but sparkling. “ _ Really _ ?” He breathed out in awe.

Virgil blinked his eyes to make sure he wasn’t staring at an actual puppy. “Yeah.” He said plainly, smiling. It was so odd, Patton’s mood always seemed so infectious, he was always surprised whenever the others were anything but happy around Patton when he was such a joyful bundle.

Patton made a squeak and opened his arms before closing them. “Can I give you a hug?” He asked, his eyes hopeful.

Virgil smiled widely. He scooped Patton up in a large hug before the shorter boy could react. “ _ You _ , can  _ always _ give me a hug, Pat!!” Virgil smiled.

“AwwWW!!” Patton cuddled into the hug and Virgil felt happy and warm inside.

“You two seem to be doing well!” Roman commented with a laugh from a few feet in front of them. He winked at Virgil when he very hurriedly separated himself from Patton, trying to save face. “I  _ knew _ you’d get along with them, J.D lightful!”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever, Princey. I just worry that you’re going to trip and fall, trying to see around that ego of yours.” Virgil remarked snarkily.

The group laughed and Virgil silently thanked the heavens that what he said didn’t come out wrong.

The rest of the walk to Logan’s house was fairly smooth, Patton and Virgil hanging back most of the time and chatting while Logan and Roman talked about whatever, leading the quartet to their destination.

“Welcome to my living space, Virgil. And welcome back, Roman and Patton.” Logan said as they approached the door. Right before Logan opened the door, he paused. “Hold a moment.” He said very politely before very suddenly diving into the bushes off the porch, screaming, “NEON YOU DUMB FUCK, GET BACK HERE!!”

There was a loud annoyed yowl and Logan returned with a tan cat growling in dismay. “Sorry, I heard Neon in the bushes and it’s becoming a tad bit too late for her to be outside.”

Virgil was in so much shock at what had just happened that all of his anxieties melted away and was replaced with bubbling laughter, Roman and Patton joining him as they all walked inside the house.

“I was  _ not _ expecting that from you, Logan!!” Virgil said, pulling off his boots.

“What else was I to do? Neon is a fairly troublesome cat and walking down the steps would have taken much too long and prior attempts have concluded that a gentler approach would give her too much room to maneuver.” Logan said, practically dropping the cat. Though it was more like he had just opened his arms and the cat had dropped herself to the ground, pushing herself against Logan’s chest. “That reminds me, that you should probably keep your distance with Neon, she tends to be the feistier one.”

Virgil looked at him but before he had time to question, he felt a soft object vibrating around his legs and he looked down to see a black cat snuggling around his ankles.

“Ah, it seems Cobalt is making her presence known. She is the much more friendly one. I do hope you like felines.” Logan said, hanging his coat up on a hook. Patton and Roman had already gone ahead of the others, knowing the place already and wanting to get things ready for their newest addition to their friendly little group.

Virgil smiled and bent down, stroking the pretty black cat. “Oh don’t worry, I love cats. How many do you have anyway?”

Logan calmly started to lead Virgil to the livingroom. “Three, actually. Neon, who is a  _ brat _ , Cobalt, and-”

“Let me guess, something that has to do with the periodic table?” Virgil asked with a chuckle.

Logan smoothly continued. “No. His name is Greg.” And with that he left a half laughing half shocked Virgil in the hallway.

Patton found him and escorted him over to the couch. “I call sitting next to Virge!!” Patton announced.

“Aw, c’mon, Pat!” Roman lamented.

Patton shook his head. “Nuh-uh, Roman! You get him for two periods  _ and _ lunch! It’s not fair!”

“Oh fine whatever.” Roman huffed. “But I get the popcorn bowl!”

“Deal!” Patton allowed.

They all settled down, Patton sitting between Virgil and Roman on the couch and Logan sitting in a recliner on the other side of the room. They had decided, after much argument (Mostly from Roman) on watching Mulan. Virgil was becoming very comfortable with them, and even got involved with the movie debate.

The night went pretty smoothly until Cobalt jumped onto Roman’s lap from where she had been sitting before, causing Roman to freak out and spill his soda on himself.

“Gah!! God,  _ damn _ , Cobalt you dumb cat!!” Roman exclaimed. “God I love you, but chill out!!” He said, shoving the black fluffball off of him and standing up. “Hey, Lo, You got a shirt I can borrow? This one’s all sticky now.”

Logan nodded and headed upstairs. “You may put your soiled shirt in the washing machine, Ro. I will return it to you when it’s clean.” Logan called on his way up.

“Thanks, Lo!” Roman called up to his friend.

Patton giggled next to Virgil. “Knowing Lo, he probably has a few changes of clothes that were actually bought for you! You tend to do stupid things over here, dontch’ya?”

Roman sighed. “I suppose you’re right.” He said, tugging off his red shirt, revealing his bare chest.

Virgil felt his face flush, but was more than interested by the large galaxy tattoo that spanned over the tan boy’s left shoulder to cover a quarter of his back.

Virgil didn’t even realize it when he breathed out, “Oh, wow…”

Roman turned to look at him, his own cheeks slightly pink, though Virgil must be imagining it. “Huh? Oh, my soul tat? Yeah, it’s pretty great, isn’t it? It’s-”

“Here you go, Roman. You actually left this last time you spent the night.” Logan said, tossing a plain white t-shirt at his friend.

“Thanks, calculator watch!” Roman smiled, pulling the garment over his head.

Patton nudged Virgil, drawing his attention away from the green eyed boy. Patton winked at Virgil and the pale boy would have flushed harder if he wasn’t dense as a brick sometimes.

The rest of their night went well and Virgil gave Thomas a call to come pick him up. For some reason, Virgil didn’t have any trouble calling his brother where he would rather just text his mom.

Virgil said his goodbyes to Roman and Logan, giving Patton a tight hug.

“Thanks, Pat. I’ll see you all on monday! Bye!” Virgil called on his way out of the door.

“Cya, Kiddo!!” Patton called to him as he got in the car and drove off.

“I take it you had fun?” Thomas asked once they couldn’t see the house anymore.

Virgil nodded blissfully to himself. “Yep!” He thought of his new friends, storing away happy memories amidst the jars upon jars of repressed emotions and guilts.

He made sure the new memories shined.

He knew he would be looking forward to revisiting them soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I remember writing this chapter! It was a lot of fun writing the interactions between Patton and Virgil! Platonic Moxiety is my fucking JAM.  
> I don't have much to say about this chapter in particular, just that I love Logan's cats that's all really. I love cats in general.  
> I hope you're all enjoying Soulbound!!


	9. Panic! At The Nerd's House

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roman Prince and Logan Rose are soulmates. They’re platonic soulmates though. They both have the same Soul mark to prove it. But they both have one other soul mark, binding them to one other person. And when they find Patton Miles, it just so happens that they’re both his soulmates. Logan being his Soulbound Soulmate, and Roman being a platonic soulmate. But something feels missing. And it feels filled, shockingly so, when they meet a certain someone a year and a half after they found each other.

It had been a month or so after Virgil had first transferred over to Eastwood high and he was beginning to like it. He hadn’t been bothered much thus far by bullies, like he had before- though he supposed that had something to do with the way he now had the ability to hide the fact that he didn’t really have any soulmates. He had  _ friends _ now, and that was a big change. Slowly the jars filled with foul thoughts in his mind seemed to be lightening up ever so faintly.

However, his  _ grades _ seemed as dreadful as always.

Virgil was fairly good at most things. He got decent or at least  _ passing _ grades in his English, theater, art, and history classes, but it was math and science that really got him. It didn’t help that he had thought that he could survive ap bio this year instead of the normal course.

And it was really starting to weigh on Virgil’s shoulders.

“Having trouble with math, Virgil?” Logan asked one day when Virgil had opted for doing homework during lunch.

Virgil looked up, a little surprised the taller boy had talked to him. Roman and Patton were off in a practice room away from the cafeteria, Roman wanting to run his dramafest lines and Patton being eager to volunteer himself.

Logan and Virgil had always been friendly, of course, and would talk often, but Logan tended to prefer to stay in his own little world. And Virgil was always too nervous to initiate a conversation. What if he accidentally disturbed a seriously deep thought and then Logan would hate him and if Logan hated him then the others would hate him too and if  _ that _ happened then-

Virgil swiftly cut off his quickly spiraling thoughts. “Uh, yeah actually.” Virgil responded.

Logan held out his hand. “Would you mind too terribly if I looked at it? I tend to accel at mathematics.”

Virgil handed over his math book and stood to sit next to Logan.

“Hm...Well it seems you miscalculated here. You’re supposed to divide the x here with the four.” Logan observed, pointing at the troublesome problem.

“Oh...Oh I guess you’re right.” Virgil said, staring at his paper.

“Of course I am. I did this years ago.”

“Hey, uh…” A thought popped into Virgil’s head. He liked the idea, but would Logan really agree?

“Yes?” Logan looked at him and in that moment, Virgil felt like he could truly trust the taller boy.

“Do you think you could maybe…” Virgil rubbed the back of his neck, fingering the edge of his hoodie. “I dunno, maybe tutor me in math...Or something…?” Virgil asked, finally giving in and throwing his hood up around his head and melting into the warm safety of it all.

When Virgil looked back at Logan, his eyes were absolutely ablaze with sincerity and wonder, though his posture and expression was calm and polite as always.

“I would be delighted to, ‘take you under my feathered, hollow boned appendage’ Virgil.” Logan said, a cool smile resting upon his lips.

Virgil snorted at his friend.  When had he started thinking of them so easily as friends? “I think you mean  _ wing _ , there, Lo.”  When had he started calling him Lo so suridly?

Logan frowned. “I most certainly do not. I took a saying that was quite frankly  _ boring _ and improved it drastically. You’re welcome!” He said the last while smiling a smile that looked so proud it could make the manifestation of ego cry.

Virgil smiled. "So today? Or…?"

Logan nodded, returning to his food. "That should work splendidly for me. My mother will be home and I can provide food as well as transportation for you."

Virgil nodded. "Great! I  _ really _ appreciate it, Lo."

"It's my pl-"

_ Ding!! Ding!! Ding!! _

Stupid bell.

The rest of the day went well, save for Roman coming very near to toppling off the stage when his scene got a little out of hand and off script.

"Hey Virge, whatcha doing walking this way?" Roman asked casually when they didn't part ways.

"Oh, I'm having trouble with my math and asked Lo to help me." Virgil explained, soaking in the sun of the early fall. "I'm heading to his house for a bit of help."

Roman beamed. "That's great!! Man, I always had trouble with homework and stuff, but Specs has been a huge help with it lately!" Roman winked at Virgil. It seemed to be something he did often. "I'm more than sure he'll be able to help you too!"

"Well of course. I have never failed in my endeavors to help my fellow peers, so I believe it is safe to say I will be a satisfactory tutor to my friend here as well." Logan said, drawing attention to himself.

Suddenly Virgil felt very small. Both Roman and Logan were fairly tall and Virgil- while not  _ incredibly  _ short- felt like a dirt covered marshmallow surrounded by hungry seven-year-old boy scouts.

And if you've never been around seven-year-old boy scouts, let's just say Virgil had a very vivid memory of dirt coated things getting shoved into dirty little mouths.

In short, Virgil was a tiny pinecone.

“Wow, you guys are  _ tall _ …” Virgil muttered to himself.

Of course it was also intended to only be for his ears, but curses. Alas, Logan’s hearing was too good to be fair.

“Yes I suppose we are on the taller end of the spectrum.” Logan commented, pushing up his glasses.

Roman looked over at Virgil and smirked. “Feeling extra short today, Jason Toddler?” He asked, a playful spark in his eyes.

Virgil looked down at the ground. “Well, I’m not usually the  _ shortest _ person around, with Patton there and all, but now I feel like a little beetle in comparison to you two.” He looked up at Logan, who was still grinning about his height advantage like the smug little shit he was.

Roman laughed and brought his face down to Virgil’s. “Wanna experience what it’s like to be tall?” Roman teased.

Virgil laughed. “Yeah, sure! Whatcha gonna do? Give me a piggyback riIIDE-?!” Virgil shrieked as he was lifted up from behind.

Logan had apparently decided it was his job to make Virgil feel like he was a thousand feet tall as the taller boy placed Virgil onto his shoulders.

“Logan  _ what the FUCK _ ?!” Virgil screamed, gripping the boy’s head for dear life.

Roman was doubled over cackling and Logan was restraining his laughter too. “Well, you  _ seemed _ to be sincere when expressing your desire to be tall, I was just helping you in your goal!” That was the day Virgil found out that Logan could be a shit-eating prankster at times.

" _ Logan you mother fucking whore put me down _ !!!" Virgil seethed, his heart beating out of his chest.

Roman was practically on the ground, laughing his lungs dry. Logan was also stifling laughter as he tried to keep Virgil stead atop his shoulders.

"SHUT UP, PRINCEY, IT'S NOT FUNNY!!" Virgil yelled, his anxiety shooting through the roof. He wasn't even sure why he was so terrified. Was Virgil afraid of heights??

Roman calmed down a bit and stood up straighter, having bent over on his knees. "I'm sorry, Virge!! But it  _ is _ a  _ little _ funny!"

Virgil pouted and his eyes were starting to sting.  _ Oh god, it's just like last time. They're going to make fun of me and tease me and it'll be Lakeside all over again. Of  _ course _ it will be. I was an idiot to think I'd ever have something good! _

Roman seemed to notice something was off and he stopped laughing. "Hey, Logan will let you down, okay? We-"

Virgil panicked. "N-no!!” He shouted, clinging tighter to Logan. “Don’t let go!!”

Logan held his grip on Virgil's legs, reassuring the shorter boy that he wasn't going to fall. His stifled laughter had gone silent as he focused on the pale boy on his shoulders.

"Hey, it's okay!!" Roman said, a soft, worried smile on his face, masking his own panicked concern. "I'll help you down, okay?"

Virgil took a deep breath. "Okay."

Roman carefully grabbed Virgil under his arms and guided him until his feet were back on the ground.

"My deepest and sincerest apologies, Virgil," Logan started. Though his tone was calm and emotionless as always, his eyes were ridden with guilt and regret. "I was unaware that you were afraid of heights. And if you no longer wish to study at my living space, I fully understand."

Virgil breathed out and steadied himself. "No, it's okay, Logan. To be honest, I didn't know I was afraid of heights either." Virgil admitted, chuckling softly in attempts to ease the tension that had built.

Logan's shoulders relaxed slightly, though the look in his eyes remained. "Oh is that so? How interesting...So tell me, Virgil…"

The rest of the walk went smoothly and Roman parted ways with them at a corner.

When they arrived at Logan's house, there was a meowing black cat on the front porch.

Virgil bent down and pet the cat. "Hey there, Cobalt! How you doing, kitty?" He purred happily to the small feline.

The small animal vibrated happily and leaned her entire weight, it seemed, into Virgil’s palm.

“I see you missed Cobalt?” Logan asked, a fondness in his voice. He moved and opened the door, watching as the little black cat darted inside the house, now meowing at the two boys to come in.

Virgil nodded slightly, standing up. “Yeah, I guess. I love animals, but my mom won’t let me get one. She says they’re far too much work for something so small and stupid.” Virgil sniffed. “ _ I _ think they’re more than worth the effort though. But it’s not really my choice, so…”

Logan nodded, removing his shoes. Logan had a very quiet understanding about him. Where with other people you would want to hear it straight from their mouths what they were thinking, Logan could stay silent. Something about his silence radiated calm, content, understanding. It was a kind of understanding in the same way that a wistful philosopher understands that humans experience joy.

“Logan? Are you home, hun?” A female voice called from the kitchen.

“Yes, mom, I have arrived home. I have invited company over as well with the intent to help him with his studies.” Logan called back, making his way to the kitchen to greet his mother.

Virgil followed closely behind, suddenly feeling like he had just stepped into the house for the first time again.

“Oh?” Virgil entered the room and saw a pretty- although fairly tired looking- woman standing at the counter, a coffee pot in hand. “And who’s this?” She directed the question at Virgil, but Logan answered for him, much to Virgil’s relief.

“This is Virgil Sanders, a friend of mine. Roman introduced him to the group a few days after school started.” Logan finished.

Logan’s mother smiled politely at Virgil and reached a hand over the counter. “My name’s Tatiana Rose, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Virgil!” She smiled happily as Virgil shook her hand. “Well, I won’t bother you boys much. Go along and go study.” She started walking away, coffee in hand when she turned at the last second. “Oh, I’ll be in the study if you need me, Lo. And don’t you go eating all the crofters without me!”

Virgil looked after Tatiana. She seemed so relaxed and kind. It was such a stark contrast to Virgil’s own mother, he found himself having to smother a tiny seed of jealousy.

~~•~~

The two boys had been studying up in Logan’s room for a short while before Virgil decided to strike a conversation.

“So what does your mom do for work?” He asked.

“She’s a midwife. Her work hours are fairly unregimented, but I don’t mind much. I know how to take care of myself enough that I honestly don’t mind the irregularity of our time together.” Logan paused for a moment and explained a problem to Virgil before continuing. “But it does get a little lonely from time to time. I think that’s why she let me get the cats. They seem to fill the space whenever she’s away.” He finished, reaching over to fondly scratch Neon behind the ear from where she lay to his left.

“What about your dad?”

“Hm?” Logan asked, a little distracted as he looked at a complicated equation on his own paper.

“Your dad. What does he do for work?” Virgil clarified.

“Oh, I don’t have a parental father.” Logan said plainly.

“Oh, sorry I didn’t-”

“Don’t apologize. You were simply curious, and my lack of a father figure is not something I am ashamed of. My mother is plenty enough for me.”

“Oh, well that’s good…” Virgil trailed off, thinking of his own mother. Logan seemed to have a good life with just him and Tatiana. They seemed to get along quite well. Tatiana didn’t check on him every five minutes, and she didn’t try to intrude on him, and Logan’s door still had a working lock on it.

Sprouting jealousy planted itself in Virgil’s chest as he could only wonder spitefully to himself,  _ why can’t I have that? _

~~•~~

Logan and Virgil were quiet for a long time before a string of curses flew from Logan’s mouth.

“Hey, what’s up?” Virgil asked, concern lacing his words.

“Damn it, it’s fine just-” Logan’s breathing started to pick up. Something was wrong and Virgil was very suddenly on edge. Logan ran a hand through his hair. “I-it’s fine, I just can’t seem to get the right answer to this equation.” He laughed, but it was hardly a joyful one as Logan tried desperately to hide the growing panic in his eyes.

_ This is  _ highly _ illogical, Logan!! It is just a simple equation! There is nothing to be panicking about. _ Logan’s reasonable side argued with a train of anxiety and panicked desperation.  _ But if I can't get this problem done then I won’t complete this assignment and I'll fail the class and then I won't graduate and I’ll be left alone on the streets forever and- _

Logan’s breathing quickened again and suddenly his heart was pounding and he couldn’t think. He only just barely registered that Virgil was still in the room with him and before he knew what was going on, Virgil was talking to him in a calm voice.

"Hey, hey, look at me, okay? Logan can you look at me?" Virgil asked, and Logan slowly looked up into the boy’s grey-blue eyes. In them Logan read calm, worried, stability. “There we go, there are those blue eyes!” Virgil smiled reassuringly. “Now, Logan, I need you to calm down, okay? Try and breath-”

Logan squeezed his eyes shut, gasping for breaths as if he had been underwater for years and forgotten what air tasted like. Logan shook his head, tears springing out from the corners of his screwed shut eyelids. “I-I can’t!” Logan managed to gasp out.

Virgil gently and firmly grabbed ahold of Logan's trembling hands. “Hey, it’s okay,” His voice was soft and had Logan not been panicking, he might have felt as if he could fall into the voice and it would gently lull him to sleep. It was nearly as soft as Patton’s voice.

Logan shook his head again, staring with wild eyes at the ground. He started to have images of his dream-self on the floor of the foreignly familiar room, tearing up his skin and sobbing glassily, it reminded him of mirrors with no reflection.

Virgil moved Logan’s hand to press against his own chest. “Logan…” Virgil spoke ever so quietly, his voice pitching down in sturdy level-headedness. “Logan, listen to me. Okay? Can you feel my heartbeat?” Logan listened. He could feel the shorter boy’s heart drumming softly and strongly. He nodded. “Good. Now focus on it.” Logan did as he was told. “Now can you try and match my breathing, Logan?” Virgil took exaggerated breaths, four seconds in, holding for seven seconds, and releasing it for eight seconds.

Soon, Logan had calmed down and Virgil let Logan’s hand slip away.

“There...Are you okay, Logan?” Virgil asked.

Logan nodded, slight confusion tracing his features. “Yes, I believe I am unharmed...why would I not be?”

Virgil chuckled somberly. “No, I meant emotionally, Lo.”

“Oh.” Logan said dumbly. “Yes. Yes I believe I am doing just fine emotionally as well. I apologize for the outburst. It was very-”

Virgil threw Logan into a hug. “Don’t you  _ dare _ apologize for not being okay.” He said sternly. He pulled off of Logan. “Sorry. But if you even need someone to talk to, or to help you calm down, or whatever- I honestly don’t give a shit  _ what _ it is- I’m here for you, buddy.” Virgil softly bumped his fist on Logan’s shoulder.

Logan smiled a bright, wide smile for the first time since Virgil had met him. He pulled Virgil in for another quick hug. “Thank you, Virge.”

~~•~~

Virgil had gotten his homework done and was beginning to learn new things from Logan. They had exchanged numbers and that night had texted about different anime theories and plotlines.

And for the first time since before he could even remember, Virgil felt like he had some semblance of a future. He felt that there was something worthwhile whenever Patton smiled and made a joke. He could see something joyful and real whenever Logan spoke about space or quantum physics. And he saw, for the first time, a faintly glowing future whenever Roman’s eyes lit up as he spiraled into talking about the thing that had captured his attention of late.

Virgil felt like he belonged.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was one chapter I had a lot of fun writing! I never did get the chance to ever mention it directly, but Tatiana is supposed to be aroace, hence Logan never having a parental father.  
> Anyway I do hope you are enjoying Soulbound!!


	10. Yellow Eyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roman Prince and Logan Rose are soulmates. They’re platonic soulmates though. They both have the same Soul mark to prove it. But they both have one other soul mark, binding them to one other person. And when they find Patton Miles, it just so happens that they’re both his soulmates. Logan being his Soulbound Soulmate, and Roman being a platonic soulmate. But something feels missing. And it feels filled, shockingly so, when they meet a certain someone a year and a half after they found each other.

One month and two weeks at Eastwood high.

Virgil?

Surviving.

More than that, in fact.

At this point, the small, weird, lightweight of a kid had expected to have been picked up by some or a few lunch bullies and even perhaps a few after school ruffians.

But all Virgil had to deal with was a single, mildly irritating, girl in his first period class.

And even then, Virgil had been a little bit distracted with his own thoughts for him to be too terribly annoyed.

No, Virgil did not think of the annoying girl who sat at his table. Nor did he speak to or of the short boy with beanie who would give him weird side glances from time to time. Instead his thoughts were occupied by a few smiling faces. Today, the lightly tanned one held most of his attention.

Ever since the movie night, Virgil had tried finding a proper and easy way to ask Roman about his soulmark again. It was killing him. He didn’t care that Roman had a soulmate, of  _ course _ he wouldn’t  _ care _ about  _ that _ ! No, no, no, he was just wondering…

Virgil sighed. He honestly  _ didn’t _ know why he cared so much about the tall boy’s soulmark. Virgil  _ hated _ soulmarks anyway!! Why should  _ he _ care whether or not his friend had a soulmate? If anything he should be  _ happy _ for him! Not…whatever it was that he was feeling.

The bell rang and Virgil made his way to his second period with Patton.

“Alright, what’s wrong, mr. gloomy-face?” Patton asked, dropping his backpack on the ground. Virgil noticed there were a few more stars and spirals doodled on the light blue pack than there had been yesterday and he smiled quietly at his friend’s adorable artististry.

Patton was wearing a pale blue sweater today with blue leaves floating all around, trapped inside the fabric, his darker blue jeans and white shoes giving the whole look the feeling of winter, even though halloween was just around the corner. His golden blonde hair stood out like the last surviving dandelion amongst pale white snowflakes. He was honestly very cute today.

“Nothing’s  _ wrong _ , Pat. Just a little sour taste in my mouth. There’s this really annoying girl who sits at my table, that’s all.” Virgil lied. Though whether to himself or Patton was beginning to feel a tad bit unclear.

Patton relaxed a little. “Oh, well as long as you’re doing okay then!!” He chirruped.

The period wore on and Virgil almost got the image of Roman and his soulmark out of his head until a boy sitting nearby started talking loudly about his soulmate.

“I’m telling you! He’s  _ literally  _ the prettiest boy I’ve ever seen, Shelly!! Oh you should have seen the way his eyes  _ sparkled _ !” The boy sighed loudly.

Virgil looked down and saw fingerprints stamped above the boy’s elbow and felt hot shame and jealousy shoot through him.

He hated soulmarks.

He hated soulmates.

He hated everything soul-whatever-the-fuck-it-was related.

It was the whole reason he’d moved schools in the first place!

Truth be told, Virgil didn’t just have no  _ visible _ soulmarks, but Virgil didn’t have any soulmates at  _ all _ . So he had distanced himself from anything and everything related to soulmates, quietly resenting and glaring bitterly at everyone around him who had a fancy flower tattooed under their eye or a timer on their wrist or the words, “Nice to meet you!” etched forever on their skin. He was bitter and jealous and despised soulmates and the marks that came with them. Whenever the class would teach about them, Virgil magically fell sick or had a doctors appointment, it was always one thing or another. However, in avoiding classes, bastards and bullies came after him, knowing he didn’t have any soulmates. It was better than having to sit through hours of learning about something he didn’t and would never have. Even if it had been a bit painful at times.

So when he had to sit and witness others babbling on and on about their own life long love they’d never part from, the one person made for  _ them _ , Virgil radiated bitter envy knowing he’d never have what they had.

He was so consumed with his own thoughts that he missed the worried glance Patton gave Virgil when he’d caught him staring.

Virgil had nearly forgotten his spiteful hatred of soulmarks, and having it resurface, he was still silently fuming when Roman strut his way up to Virgil’s table.

“Woah, who died, Virgil Killjoy?” Roman asked, dropping his backpack on the ground and smiling charmingly too bright.

Virgil felt a pang of guilt at his thoughts. Roman was his friend after all. How could he start talking about how much he hated soulmates when he knew Roman was still looking for his?

Roman still had a chance at pure and everlasting joy, and Virgil wasn’t about to shit on it.

“It’s nothing. Just a bad day.” Virgil said, throwing his purple and black hood around his face and melting into the folds of fabric that felt of safety and calm.

Roman’s smile faltered slightly. “Virge, it’s only like 9:30 in the morning, are you okay?” He asked with a light, worried laugh.

Virgil shrugged, hoping he didn’t seem too obvious. “Eh, I got a few annoying kids in my first few periods. They were just being ungodly stupid today. That’s it.”

“Oh, well-”

“It’s you?!” A girl shouted from the front of the room. A boy sat frozen in his seat, a pen hovering over his hand, a messy half-written note doodled over it.

The girl’s hand bore the same messy scrawl and what was happening was clear as day.

Another pair of soulmates finding each other. 

Virgil felt his stomach churn at the sight. It wasn't that joy sickened him. It was a nauseous hurt. Seeing something he'd never have. Seeing something he  _ couldn't  _ have.

The entire period, Virgil simmered in quiet, isolating shame, thinking about what he could have had or how it might have happened. He half-heartedly answered when Roman tried to strike up a conversation and sunk into his hoodie as if it could make him disappear if he tried hard enough.

He spent the entirety of the following period sulking too. There was something really soul crushing about thinking you were over something, only to have it all come crashing back down. Like stacking a tower of perfectly balanced china only to have a child bump it just slightly and have it all be shattered and lost forever, irreparable.

Then finally, lunch came. Maybe Logan could help distract him by talking about Midoria’s quirk. Or maybe Patton could take his mind to a better place with cheesy dad jokes and puns. Or perhaps Virgil could get lost in Roman’s voice as he ranted about his latest obsession.

“Oh!! Whoops!” Roman knocked over a carton of milk, spilling it over the table top. Logan saved Virgil’s homework from it’s destructive path before retrieving a handful of napkins.

Patton accepted them. “Well, I think Roman’s really  _ milked _ that subject!!” He winked and rolled up his sleeves to start cleaning.

Virgil nearly choked when he caught a glimpse of his friend’s wrist.

Logan put a hand on his shoulder. “Virgil, are you alright?” Panic started to edge his voice.

“You two are  _ soulmates _ ?!!” Virgil just barely held his voice back from a shout..

Three pairs of eyes blinked blankly at him.

“Uh...Yeah…?” Patton said, resuming his cleaning.

“Wait, Virgil? Were you unaware for the entirety of our friendship that me and Patton were soulmates?” Logan asked, disbelief caked over his voice as thickly as tar.

“I mean I knew you were dating, but I-! I didn’t know you-! I didn’t know you were  _ soulmates _ !!” Virgil spat the word as if someone had shoved a handful of hot coals into his mouth.

“How could you not know?” Roman asked with a light laugh. “I mean it’s not like they try and hide it.”

“I don’t  _ know _ !! I thought that maybe they were still looking for their soulmates!”

“Hey, Virge? How about we calm down a little, okay?” Patton started kindly. “The fact that we’re all soulmates doesn’t change anything! We still lo-”

Virgil felt like he’d been betrayed by the only people he’d ever tried to trust. “You’re  _ all _ soulmates…?” He asked a little quieter. He laughed. A little demented, but he laughed. “You’re pulling my leg here, huh? Neither of you have the same soul tat that Roman does, you can’t…”

Logan cleared his throat, an uncomfortable look plastered across his face as he tugged the collar of his shirt down, the edge of a swirl of blue and purple stars spiraling across his skin.

“But what about Roman and Pat,  _ you  _ can’t possibly-”

“Neither of us could see color until we met each other a few years back.” Patton explained. He quickly threw on a smile and tugged his friends in close. “But hey!! Who says you have to be our soulmate too to be our friend?” Patton tugged on Virgil’s sleeve and drew him into a quick hug. “We all still love you, Virge! Being soulmates doesn’t and won’t ever change that!”

_ Ding!! Ding!! Ding!! _

Virgil packed up his stuff. “I need to go to the bathroom. I’ll meet you there, Lo.” Virgil lied, hating the way Logan’s nickname rolled so easily off his tongue.

“Hey, are you okay?” Roman asked, pulling lightly on his hoodie sleeve.

Virgil turned and saw unbridled concern in his deep green eyes. Virgil shrugged. “Yeah I’m fine. Other than my need to piss, I’m damn right cheery.” He smiled as lazily as he could before turning away and swallowing back an angry scream.

Virgil’s head was spinning. It shouldn’t have been such a big deal, but to Virgil it felt like someone had tried sweetly singing him a lullaby while pressing a hot iron into his cheek. Why did they all have to be soulmates? Why and how could they possibly ever be friends with Virgil for more than a few months before they dumped him on the side of the road? Did they just see him as a temporary delight? Virgil felt like an overused call girl. Was that all he was to them? The fucking prostitute of friendship!! Call him when you’re short a player in uno! He won’t mind cause he’s just a whore!!

Virgil kept his eyes staked to the ground. He didn’t have the extra energy to focus on an image more complicated than the bland tiled school floors. And lost in his spiraling thoughts he didn’t hear when someone shouted, “Watch out!!”

And suddenly Virgil was on the ground.

_ What had happened? _

_ Someone had run into him. _

_ Why should he care? _

_ He shouldn’t. Cause he’s not worth getting mad over. _

“Oh my god!!” Virgil looked up to see who’d said it. “I’m so sorry! I really didn’t see you there!” A short kid with caramel colored skin stood in front of him, distress written across his amber eyes. He held out his hand for Virgil. “I’m hella sorry.”

Virgil accepted his hand. “It’s fine. It was my fault for staring at the fucking ground…”

The boy looked away slightly, and Virgil was struck by how his vitiligo reminded him of Todoroki’s burn scar. “Hey, if you don’t mind me asking, are you doing okay there? You looked a little upset.”

Virgil sighed, leaning against the wall. “It’s fine, or whatever…” He kicked at the ground with his boot and the boy leaned next to him. “I just found out my first and only friends are all each other’s soulmates...And I’m... _ not _ .” Why had he told him that? Virgil looked over to the kid. He was short with straight, dark hair. He wore a stylish jacket and a multitude of bracelets around his wrists. There was something about him seemed to promise he’d never let Virgil down.

“Oh, that’s rough, buddy.” The kid said, smiling lightly. It was a very comforting smile.

Virgil laughed and ran a hand through his hair. “God, sorry for springing that on you. I guess I sorta needed to get that out.”

"No trouble! My name's Dee, by the way!" The short boy smiled at Virgil, holding out his hand.

“Nice to meet you, Dee. I’m Virgil.” he shook his hand, a shiver running down Virgil’s spine as Dee’s amber eyes seemed to glow a bright yellow in the light of the hall.

that Virgil felt he had no choice but to trust. He decided it must be the way the boy’s eyes 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again! Sorry I didn't release a chapter yesterday! it was my birthday and I was busy trying not to fall off the face of a mountain! (Yeah it was fun :D)  
> Anyway I'm gonna drop two today so yeah! Just keep your eye out for the second one today!  
> Hope you're all enjoying Soulbound!!


	11. Something Wrong With The Air

Virgil liked Dee. He was funny, witty, smart, fairly charming and so very honest with Virgil. He found out that they actually shared their first period together and would talk constantly. One of their favorite games was keep a counter of the stupid things people said or did in class. So far, Stella Writte held the record of twenty dumb things said/done in one class period. It was an enjoyable game.

And Dee would listen to Virgil and smile whenever he saw him, Virgil really felt like he cared.

“Hey, so...Wanna talk about your friends?” Dee asked Virgil one day in class.

Virgil sighed. He was still hurt from what he’d found out a few days prior, though he didn’t want to bring it up to the others. How could he? They would probably hate him and leave him behind for good if they found out that Virgil was upset that they were soulmates and would even probably despise him irreversibly if they found out that Virgil didn’t have any soulmates of his own.

“I mean…” Virgil trailed off.

“Oh, if you  _ really _ don’t want to tell me…” Dee looked away, a trace of hurt in his eyes. “I mean I can’t  _ help _ you if you don’t tell me.”

Guilt struck Vigil’s heart. Dee wanted to  _ help _ him. He should tell him. Right? “It’s just it kinda hurts...They’re  _ all _ going to be together for,  _ literally _ , ever.” He twirled his hoodie stings and looked down at his desk. “I just-”

_ Ding!! Ding!! Ding!! _

“Hey, how about we talk at lunch?” Dee offered, a warm, welcoming, ever so safe smile adorning his face.

Virgil thought about his friends.  _ They’ll understand...And probably won’t miss me either. _

~~•~~

Roman had stopped coming by to pick up Virgil a while back. He couldn’t keep skipping the last few minutes of class just to walk his friend to lunch where he’d see him anyway.

Even so, Roman was always the last person to show up at their table.

“Hey, where’s Virge?” Roman asked, sitting down.

Patton looked up. “He’s not with you? We had assumed you’d picked him up this time and were dragging your feet again talking about Dear Evan Hanson.”

Roman shook his head. “You think it has anything to do with what happened a few days ago?”

Logan let out an exasperated sigh, though his eyes were uncertain. “I’m sure he just had something else, like a test to retake or an appointment of sorts.” He shook his head slightly, his eyes glueing themselves to the table top. “I’ll ask him about it today when he comes over to study…” He concluded.

The table of friends tried to strike up conversations, but it was painfully clear that it wasn’t the same. 

Everything seemed to fall short. 

No one laughed when Patton tried to make a joke. No one listened when Roman started talking about Be More Chill. No one noticed when Logan began nervously twirling his pencil in his hand. 

And everyone tried to ignore the sinking feeling that something was terribly wrong.

~~•~~

Dee and Virgil didn’t sit anywhere near the cafeteria. Instead they sat in a stairwell, away from people and prying eyes.

“So,” Dee sat forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “Your friends.”

Virgil ran his hand through his hair. “Right...They’re all soulmates…” He started awkwardly. “It sucks a ton. I mean they’re probably doing just fine without me, if they even notice I’m gone…”

Dee gave a small quiet gasp. “Oh, that’s awful!”

Virgil panicked and threw his hands up. “No no! I’m sure they don’t  _ mean _ to forget about me! I mean it’s not their fault I feel this way...“ Virgil leaned back on his elbows, looking up the stairwell. “The thing is that it probably hurts more cause I don’t have...I don’t have any soulmates….I don’t have any...“ Virgil trialed off, ashamed of himself. He hadn’t told anyone that before. Not of his own volition anyway. Why was he telling Dee? Of course Virgil knew the answer to that already. Dee listened to him in a way that no one else had. He trusted him. He could see the warmth in his eyes, he could tell that Dee  _ cared _ about him. Of course he should tell him. On top of all that, Dee wanted to help Virgil. What other option was there? He owed it to Dee to tell him, after all he was willing to help where obviously no one else was.

“Hey!” Dee’s voice snapped Virgil back to attention. His new friend’s face was smiling brightly at him, his eyes sparkling with joy and recognition. He pulled back his sleeves and rolled his bracelets up. “I don’t have any soulmates either!” He said.

Virgil stared at the boy’s blank wrist and arms, looking his entire body over. Was he telling the truth? Could there really be someone else out there like Virgil? He looked up at Dee’s smiling face. “...You...Don’t…”

Dee grabbed hold of Virgil’s hands, warmth flooding through the pale boy’s skin. “Kids like us gotta stick together, Vee. We  _ have _ to. We don’t really have any other choice, do we?” He said, throwing his hand out, gesturing at nothing. “I mean, everyone else has a soulmate or five. They’ll  _ all _ leave us at one point.” His golden eyes met Virgil’s, a pang of sad regret coating them. “I mean...It looks like your  _ friends _ are already starting to.”

_ Ding!! Ding!! Ding!! _

~~•~~

Virgil didn’t talk much with Logan during his fifth period, and he set himself to doing lights in theater just to avoid interacting with Roman.

What Dee had said must be true. How could someone lie while looking so genuinely sincere? He must be right about Virgil’s friends. And he was undoubtedly correct about them needing to stick together.

It was really true. They  _ didn’t _ have any other choice. Everyone would leave them behind, alone in the dust with absolutely nothing. Dee and Virgil would  _ always _ have each other. Two soulmate-less kids facing down the world together. 

Virgil felt...He supposed he felt like he really wasn’t alone in the world. Right? That twisting feeling must be some new form of joy he hadn’t felt before. Dee was a good person, after all.

But at the moment, all Virgil could think about was how his friends were leaving him. They had each other, they couldn’t care about Virgil himself!! He was a placeholder. That’s all he had ever been. He was an exciting new distraction for them and nothing more. Virgil had been right all along. You can’t just ‘be friends’ with someone who isn’t your soulmate. It didn’t work that way. It  _ couldn’t _ work that way.

The day ended and Virgil went straight home, he avoided Roman’s concerned looks and dodged Thomas’s questioning glances.

”Hey, Virgikins!” Virgil’s mother called when he came in the door. ”You're home early today! Didn't you need to study with your friend, honey bunches?”

Virgil shrugged. Internally cringing at the names she would call him. He'd never noticed before how often she'd call him those names...Or how uncomfortable they made him. “No, he had something to do today.” He lied.

"Alright, sweetheart. I just don't want you falling behind in classes this year, okay?"

"I know mom. I'll be fine." Virgil walked up the stairs and into his room. Closing the door behind him, Virgil slid against the door and to the ground.

He didn't cry.

He didn't scream.

He hardly even had energy left to think.

All he did was sit in quiet silence, apathetically reviewing the day.

_ "They’ll  _ all _ leave us at one point. I mean...It looks like your  _ friends _ are already starting to.” _

Dee's words ricocheted within his mind.

Virgil thought of Logan, criticising and telling him that he wasn't doing it right.

Virgil thought if Patton, ignoring him and only speaking to him to make a joke about him.

Virgil thought of Roman, becoming a bully like all the other kids and Lakeside and beating him up for being a soulless freak.

But it was only when he thought about how they'd never be friends ever again that Virgil began to cry.

And just like how it had been before he had met Roman or Patton or Logan, Virgil decorated his arms that night with thin red lines.

~~•~~

Patton didn't feel right. The entire day felt wrong. Virgil hadn't been with them for long, but him not being there that day was... _ wrong _ . It made Patton's stomach twist a little and made his head spin and his eyes screw up as if he were trying to look at the sun.

He lay on his bed at the moment, trying to figure out why everything felt so wrong. He had been quietly anxious all day. It was a fairly normal occurrence, but this time felt different. It felt almost as if he was  _ actually _ the one feeling his emotions, as if he hadn't been before, as crazy as that sounds.

_ What if I'm possessed by a ghost?! _ Patton thought theatrically, trying to lighten his mood. It failed to do anything short of making him feel like a whiny child.

He sighed and threw an arm over his face. He didn't know what could be wrong, other than missing Virgil.

Patton was suddenly struck by how much he actually missed the purple haired emo. He had only known him for a few months, but he had an issue with growing much too attached to things and people much too quickly.

_ It’s just me overreacting again… _ Patton thought, rolling over and staring at his fish.  _ I’m sure the others are doing perfectly fine and will tell me in the morning that I’m just a big cute softy and that there’s nothing wrong with Vigil le...Nothing wrong… _ The thought of Virgil leaving left Patton spiraling for the first time in a very long time. The thought left his heart racing and his cheeks damp, his breath catching in his throat and his hands shaking. It threw Patton into a panic like he’d never experienced and before he knew what he was doing, he had his cousin on the phone.

“Pat? What’s up?” The voice came, the phone distorting it slightly.

“I’m s-sorry, Em, but I just-” Patton choked back a sob.

“Woah, hey! It’s okay! Do you want me to come over so we can talk about this?” Emile asked, his kind voice familiar in Patton’s ear.

Patton nodded before saying yes, realizing that his cousin wouldn’t be able to see him.

Ten minutes later Patton heard the soft knock on his door before Emile entered.

Patton was still a sobbing mess and he only had energy enough to get up and collapse into Emile's arms, crying into his chest.

Emile stroked his golden hair and guided him to his bed, sitting him down. "Shh...shh, it's okay, Pat. It's all okay…"

They sat like that for a few minutes more before Patton calmed down enough to talk.

"So tell me what's up. What's got you all teary-eyed today?"

Patton wiped his eyes from under his glasses. "It's really stupid…" he muttered.

Emile put a hand on his shoulder. "Well whatever it is made you feel emotions. And your emotions are  _ not _ stupid."

Patton took a breath. “Okay…” He folded his hands in his lap and looked down toward the ground, the sound of his bubbling fish tank consuming the silence of the room. “I have this friend of mine, and well we kinda just met. But today he seemed really distant and didn’t even show up for lunch. A-and I know there’s nothing  _ wrong _ with that and it’s sort of really silly, but I was thinking about how maybe he might leave us or drift away-” Patton hardly even noticed his tears at this point. “And I don’t know why but that just scared me so  _ so _ much and I- I just- well I-”

Emile wrapped his cousin up in another hug, letting Patton calm down again. “Hey, it’s okay to be scared about losing people! That’s perfectly normal, Pat.”

“But I  _ just _ met him!”

”So? What does that have to do with anything?” Emile detangled his arms from around Patton and looked him in the eyes. ”You have a  _ very _ big heart, Patton. And the world is a better place for it! You love everyone and everything  _ so _ much, that sometimes I think you feel like you might burst. And that’s okay! And who cares if you get attached to people quickly? That’s what you’re supposed to do. Love the world and love the way you can show it to others. It’s okay to cry. It’s okay to hold on to people. And it’s okay if you love someone you just met.” Emile kissed the top of Patton’s head. ”You're doing great, bud.”

Patton's phone buzzed next to him and he ignored it for the moment, not wanting to ruin his time with Emile.

Then it buzzed again.

And again.

And again.

And Patton finally picked it up just in time to not miss Logan calling.

”Logan?” Patton asked, putting the phone to his ear. ”What’s wrong, darling?” Emile made a gesture to the door and Patton shook his head, mouthing ‘no, you can stay.’

“Oh, Patton! Thank the world of science you picked up, I was getting worried after the first few rings because you’re usually very punctual.” Patton heard unmistakable rising panic in his boyfriend’s voice and put him on speaker, putting a finger to his mouth to tell Emile to be quiet for now.

“Sorry, hun. I was just a little distracted. Is everything okay?”

Logan’s voice choked for a moment before a strangled, “No!” came out of the phone.

“Alright, I have Emile here too if things get extra bad, but for now just talk to me, okay? What’s wrong?”

“Well as you might be aware at this point, Virgil and I have our studying scheduled for today and I was quite eager to talk to him since he was all but mute during our English class and, as you know, was absent at lunch, and-”

“Logan, honey, you’re starting to spiral. How about we calm down and then we can jump straight to the point, okay? Go put an ice cube in your mouth.”

“What?”

“Go put an ice cube in your mouth and then come back to me, okay?”

There was a long silent pause before Logan’s voice returned, muffled by something in his mouth. “Okay...I’m grateful and more than lucky to have you to turn to, Patton.”

“No problem. Now what were you saying about Virgil? Did something happen while you two were studying?”

“I almost wish that were the case,” Logan said, his voice starting to calm down. “But Virgil never showed up. Roman said he had avoided him all throughout theater and didn’t even say goodbye when he left. It’s got me worried...And I know it’s  _ highly _ illogical to be this upset, but I just-”

“Feel like something’s terribly wrong…” Patton finished with Logan, their voices synchronizing.

Emile looked at him with worried eyes and Patton stared back.

There was something wrong.

They could  _ feel _ it.

It was so thick you could spread it on bread and eat it.

_ Something _ was very  _ very _ wrong with the world.

~~•~~

Roman lay on his bedroom floor, staring up at the ceiling. He hardly even noticed when a small pain in his right arm flared up and died down. His thoughts were consumed by how different everything felt around him, as if the very air around him felt alien and distorted.

He knew Logan could feel it. He had to help the high strung boy calm down enough to walk to his house.

He knew Patton could feel it. He had seen the way the short kid had nervously drawn stars on his hands and on the table top at lunch.

Roman thought it must have something to do with Virgil being gone that day, but something like that was ludicrous, right? The very being of the world couldn't change just because a single person was absent for a single day.

And it wasn't like Virgil was gone forever. It was just that day. He must have had a test or something like that.

And that awful, sinking, dreadful pit in Roman's stomach must be hunger...he was just hungry and tired or something like that.

Roman pushed the horrid thought of Virgil leaving out of his mind and desperately tried to distract himself, a task that usually took less than zero effort.

But today, all Roman could think about was how much he missed his purple haired friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I LOVED writing this chapter! I loved going through with each of the gang and reviewing how they each reacted, Patton calling Emile, Logan continuously panicking, and Roman pushing it all down!  
> Anyway yeah! New arc, new character, new problems! Yayy!!  
> I hope you're all enjoying Soulbound!!


	12. Quiet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roman Prince and Logan Rose are soulmates. They’re platonic soulmates though. They both have the same Soul mark to prove it. But they both have one other soul mark, binding them to one other person. And when they find Patton Miles, it just so happens that they’re both his soulmates. Logan being his Soulbound Soulmate, and Roman being a platonic soulmate. But something feels missing. And it feels filled, shockingly so, when they meet a certain someone a year and a half after they found each other.

Things were heading in a downward spiral for Logan. Virgil hadn’t shown up the next day and sat on the other side of the classroom when english finally rolled around. Logan was a very anxious person, despite how collected he wanted to believe he was. It only hurt more because he knew all of his thoughts and fears were irrational.

But this time felt different in some way. Like his fears were more reasonable. His fear of losing his friend felt like a very real thing. And that scared him so much more than anything else could.

_ Come on Logan! There is no reason to be so upset over a single friend drifting away. You didn't even care about whether or not Virgil existed a few months ago!! _ Logan sat anxiously in his class, paying more attention to the short boy with purple hair sitting quietly across the room than the teacher.

“Logan.”

_ What kind of rational person are you if you can’t even get over the fact that a simple friend is drifting away a little? _

“Logan.”

_ Would it have been better if I’d never met Virgil to begin with? No...I’m very glad I met him. I don’t know why, but I really feel like he- _

“Logan Rose!” Logan was finally snapped out of his own thoughts and the class giggled at his mind’s absence. The teacher glared at him and gestured to the board.

Logan looked at the board, lost. “I must apologize. I was lost in my own thoughts, metaphorically of course, and wasn’t listening.” He said as respectfully as he could.

The teacher sighed and turned back to the board, writing something down, having given up on having a student answer.

Logan stared at his desk, his anxious train of thought resuming and consuming him. He wouldn’t see the way Virgil’s gaze was tethered to him, a sad, lonely glaze coating his eyes.

~~•~~

“Well, maybe he’s just...I don’t know…” Patton said, walking hand in hand with his boyfriend.

“Maybe he just needs some space…” Roman finished for his friend.

They had all decided to go to Roman’s house to hang out. It had been a week now since any of them had eaten lunch with Virgil and it was starting to get to them. Sure, Roman sat next to him in third, but other than that, the three of them hardly spoke to the pale emo.

Logan was too anxious that he’d drive Virgil farther away to speak, and Patton was trying to stay positive and let Virgil come to him first. Roman…

Roman didn’t know what he was feeling. He’d never really felt quite this way before. He hardly slept anymore and for the first time in a while, didn’t even react to his pains. He didn’t eat much anymore either and was the most unmotivated he’d felt in a very very long time. If someone had asked him, he would say he really wouldn’t care much if he just fell asleep forever. Roman was afraid that Virgil really did just need some space. The way he had acted after that day in the cafeteria felt a little bit too off for it to seem normal. Roman thought that maybe Virgil was just taking some time adjusting to it.

“You may be correct, Roman.” Logan said, though his breath was a little shaky. “Perhaps our friend indeed just needs some time to, ‘freeze in the outdoors.’”

“You mean, chill out?” Roman asked dubiously.

“I most certainly did not.”

Patton gave a quiet, near silent chuckle, but what would have at one point been a humorous moment, lost it’s crinkling joy in the thickness of loss.

“...Hey guys?” Patton asked after a moment. “What if Virgil doesn’t come back…?” He asked after a noise of acknowledgment from the others.

A heavy silence settled on the group.

_ What would happen if Virgil never came back? _

Logically nothing. They would just continue on as if they’d never met him in the first place. Nothing really would change.

But in their hearts they knew that something had already changed. They couldn’t quite place it, but they knew something was already different from how it was since before they’d ever met Virgil.

But they instead opted to distract themselves from the truths of things, creatively hiding it in small little bottles and jars, shoved onto dark shelves in the basements of their imaginations.

And the silence that settled on them was heavier than the weight of the world’s problems. It was thicker than the oldest tree in the world. And it was filled with more somber denial than most people will feel in their lives.

_ What if Virgil doesn’t come back…? _

“So, you were telling me about that book idea a few days ago, Patton?” Roman said, changing the subject.

“Right, I was.” Patton said, his voice awkwardly changing tone, like a drunken child stumbling in a dark room.

The rest of the walk was stiff and cold.

When they got to Roman’s house, they filed inside the doors. Remus was out with some of his friends that night, and Roman’s parents tried not to bother them, so they were all but alone in the house as they tried to focus on other things.

But everything was dropped or ignored.

No one paid attention when treasure planet was playing, no one seemed to acknowledge Patton’s halfhearted suggestion of baking cookies, no one even seemed to realize how much time had passed before Patton fell asleep on Roman’s lap.

Finally, too scared of the situation to keep it inside of himself any longer, Logan spoke up.

“Roman...What’s happening?”

Roman paused, his hand stopping the rhythmic stroking of Patton’s soft hair. The problem was, Roman didn’t have a clue of what could possibly be going on.  _ All  _ he knew was one solid thing, the thought thrumming loudly through his head, almost loud enough to make his ears ring. He’d tried so hard to ignore it, because he  _ knew _ what would happen if he acknowledged it. The one thing he hadn’t stopped thinking about since that first day when he  _ knew _ something had been wrong.

_ I miss Virgil. _

He missed him. He missed him so much it hurt. He missed talking to him, he missed their banter. He missed seeing him smile and laugh, he missed the way he could tell there was something deeper residing in him. He missed Virgil so much, and there was nothing he could do about it.

_ Is Virgil ever going to come back…? _

Roman snuggled closer to Logan, bringing him in closer and placing his head under his chin so the taller boy couldn’t see his face.

“I...I don’t know, Logan...I don’t know…” Roman said quietly, stroking his friend’s hair the way he did with Patton.

When Logan finally fell asleep too, Roman began to quietly sob.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Literally after reading this I looked up from my computer and stared off into the distance and said, "Oh that's a HORRIBLE chapter.../why am I doing this to my readers?/ I feel like I'm STABBING them!!"  
> So yeah I'm an angst writer if you couldn't already tell.  
> (Also yeah I keep forgetting to update/I've been busy with life recently. Sorry! I'll drop another two today.)


	13. Meet The Trash

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roman Prince and Logan Rose are soulmates. They’re platonic soulmates though. They both have the same Soul mark to prove it. But they both have one other soul mark, binding them to one other person. And when they find Patton Miles, it just so happens that they’re both his soulmates. Logan being his Soulbound Soulmate, and Roman being a platonic soulmate. But something feels missing. And it feels filled, shockingly so, when they meet a certain someone a year and a half after they found each other.

It had been months since Virgil actually talked to the others. The new semester had started a few weeks ago, moving Virgil and Roman away from each other in their english class.

For some reason it hurt a _lot_ not talking to each other. They now regarded one another as strangers, rather than people who had once laughed together.

The good news was that Virgil wasn’t _alone_ for once. He had Dee there with him! And Dee...Well he was great! At least _Virgil_ thought he was great.

“Oh no, honey. You _can’t_ go out looking like _that_!” Dee once said when he had dragged Virgil unwillingly out of the house to go shopping. Virgil had decided it was a fine opportunity to update his wardrobe some. He had felt slightly adventurous that day and wanted to see how he’d look in a skirt.

“Trust me, darling,” Dee’s voice dripped with harsh wisdom. “If you don’t want to go back to getting bullied every day, you should stick to your more normal stuff. Now go take that silly thing off. It doesn’t even look that good on you.”

Dee was truthful. He was honest. And that was something Virgil never had before. He should trust him. Dee was only looking out for him, after all.

It had been a few weeks prior, right before the semester ended that Virgil learned to be mindful of his friend’s temper.

~~*~~

“Hey, Dee, I want your opinion. I’ve been thinking-”

“Well _that’s_ never good!”

Virgil rolled his eyes and smiled. “I been thinking of getting my ears pierced, and I know that’s kind of-”

“Mmh...No.” Dee said offhandedly, inspecting his hand.

Virgil gave a nervous chuckle. “What do you mean ‘no’? Like you don’t-”

Dee turned to him, a lazy smile forming on his face. “I _mean_ no, sweety! You shouldn't do it.”

Virgil kept his smile, though it was starting to fail him. “But I kind of like the idea and-”

“Virgil, I said no.”

“But I _really_ think-”

Dee’s smile faded completely. “Are you talking back to me?”

Virgil’s own polite smile faded. “No! I wasn’t trying to-”

“Because it _sounded_ like you were talking back to me.”

“I really wasn’t, Dee. I think you might be overreacting a-”

“You think I’m overreacting? So I should- what?! Roll over when I’m being _disrespected_ by someone I _thought_ was my friend?!”

“No, I-”

“Virgil, _you_ asked me what to do!! _You_ were the one who came to _me_ ! _I_ said _no_ ! _End of story_!!” Dee had gotten up off the stairs and began to walk away.

Virgil’s own anger was starting to flare up. “Hey now! I didn’t-

Dee turned on him, his eyes flashing dangerously. “Do you want me to leave you too, dipshit?!” Virgil’s panic overtook his anger. “ _Listen_ to me when I say things, _Virgil_ ! When I say no, it means you _listen_ ! So unless you want me to leave you like all your other _friends_ , you better play _nice_!”

Virgil queited. “I’m sorry, Dee. I didn’t mean-”

“Does it look like sorry will cut it?!” Dee asked, furious. He stormed away from Virgil, the bell soon following his absence.

_Sorry may not cut it but I know what will…_

~~*~~

Virgil didn’t really like thinking back on that day. Dee had texted him later apologizing for his behavior, saying that he just let his temper get to him again and that Virgil would have to watch what he said around him from now on.

Dee’s temper only really broke one more time after that and he had apologized then too, so it wasn’t even a problem! Virgil had learned since then to make sure he never disagreed with Dee ever again. He knew what was best for him anyways.

Virgil was sitting on the stairs waiting for Dee to show up as always. Though he was a bit later than normal and Virgil started to worry that he had finally lost interest in him.

“...Maybe I should just leave…?” Virgil asked himself quietly.

“I’m _so_ sorry, darling!” Virgil heard Dee’s voice trilling happily from the hall and he looked up to see his short friend smiling, dragging- _what_ … “I was a bit late looking for _this_ oaf!”

Virgil’s anxiety shot into the stratosphere because Dee had _Roman by the sleeve_. Dragging the tall boy behind him like a puppy.

His heart calmed down slightly when he actually took a moment to _look_ at the new arrival. He was wearing a black jacket and a lime green crop-top with the words “Fuck me up, Daddy” printed on it. He wore heavily ripped black jeans with fishnet tights underneath them, big black combat boots with lime green laces adorned his feet and yet another swath of eye-sore-green hung from his pants in a sash, a few lengths of chain accompanying them. To add to the _eccentric_ outfit, the boy also had a dyed swatch of silvery grey in his wildly tangled hair and a scraggly mustache that looked like it had probably been fished out of the dumpster after a toxic waste spill.

Virgil was now thoroughly convinced that this person could _not_ be Roman Prince. He relaxed and smiled softly. “Glad you’re here, Dee. Who’s your friend there?”

The boy skipped happily past Dee and bent far forward, putting his face _much_ too close to Virgil’s for comfort. “I’m Remus!! And who are you, my purple haired compatriot?” He grabbed Virgil’s hand and instantly he felt an electric buzz shoot through his hand.

“Ah _fuck_! What the hell-?!” Virgil squeaked and scrambled up a few stairs.

Remus doubled over cackling and Dee rolled his eyes. “Don’t mind him, Virgil dear, he’s just an idiot.”

Virgil found himself glancing cautiously at Remus, who was still laughing on the stairs, buzzing his own hand over and over again with the prank shocker. “Yeah I can see that…” He said, rubbing at his hand.

Remus finally recovered and took off the prank shocker. “Your name’s Virgil, huh? Mind if I call ya raccoon eyes? Plum head? Emo shit? Dr. angst?”

If it had been a month prior, Virgil might have spoken up. But Dee had slowly hammered any opposition out of the emo already. So instead Virgil opened his mouth for a moment before closing it again.

Remus smiled wide and put Virgil into a friendly headlock, giving him a noogie. “Looks like we’re friends now, buddy-pal!!” Virgil winced a little at how hard Remus pushed his knuckles into his skull and fought his fight or flight instincts when the headlock seemed too tight, but it was just friendly, right? He really shouldn’t have a problem with it.

“Now that you two are introduced,” Dee said, sitting down on the steps and bringing out his lunch. “Shall we eat?”

Remus pulled out a plastic ziplock gallon bag full of...food? No. Calling the concoction _food_ was a bit too kind of a term. It was a _substance_. That was as far as Virgil was willing to call it.

And like every day, Virgil just sat on the stairs and chatted with his friends. Well, he had only just met Remus, but he had declared them friends, so that’s what they must be now. Right? And besides, he was Dee’s friend. And if Dee trusted this whacko, Virgil should too. Right?

And since then, The trio sat together at lunch.

Virgil learned that Remus was a chaotic bastard who would eat chalk on less than a dare. The best way to describe him was a trash-man really. He reminded Virgil of Oscar the Grouch from sesame street with a chaotically cheerful attitude. He always seemed to be too intense about just about everything, _especially_ when it came to physical contact. He was always just rough enough to make Virgil panic nearly every time they touched.

But he was getting used to it.

It was one day at lunch when Virgil found out why Remus looked so much like Roman.

“ _Remus Prince to the principal's office_ . _Remus Prince to the principal's office_.” The intercom announced, drawing the attention of the friends on the stairs.

Remus got up and stretched. “That’s my cue to leave school then!”

Virgil perked up. “Wait what?”

Remus grabbed his bag and slung it over one shoulder. “Cya shitbags!” Remus took off out the stairwell door, leaving the two shorter boys behind.

Virgil turned to Dee. “Wait Remus’s last name is _Prince_?!”

Dee hadn’t so much as shrugged his shoulders at Remus’s disappearance. He put his drink down and glanced at Virgil. “Yeah? I thought you knew.” Dee said innocently.

“Remus Prince?! As in Roman Prince’s-”

“Twin? Yes. I know isn’t it strange how they’re related at all? Remus is chaotic and human and just wonderful and Roman is...a _pretentious_ _bastard_! Ugh, I can’t stand him.” Dee continued, checking his phone for the time. “Remus’s brother is probably the most fake person I know.” Virgil turned his attention full on Dee. _Perfect!_ Dee thought. “I once heard he pretended to be this kids soulmate until he found Patton Miles. Then he ditched the kid at a party and this kid got like hella drunk and drugged up and ended up in a car crash. When Roman found out? He acted all devastated for the teachers and shit, but when the kid came up to him and asked him why he left, Roman said ‘I don’t hang out with dipshit losers like you, dumbass.’ The bastard’s one hell of an actor, I’ll tell ya that. No one saw it coming.”

Virgil’s world felt like it was shaking apart. Sure, he hadn’t really talked to Roman in a long time, but surely he wasn’t that bad. No, he couldn’t be…

Dee continued, seeing panic and disbelief crossing over the emo’s face. “I heard the way he lures in new people is usually by acting hella nice and almost flirty with them, and as soon as he earns their complete trust, he turns on them. You won’t hear a lot about it, but basically he slowly pushes the person out of the group and makes sure that they’re left with no friends.” Dee sighed and leaned his head in his hand. “I always try to pick up the stray kids that Roman destroys and I try to find them some good friends to hang out with. It's hard work, but it’s rewarding seeing them with someone that actually cares about them.”

Virgil’s head was spinning. Dee had never lied to him before, and he seemed to have known about Roman for far longer than Virgil. Was that what had happened? Dee _did_ say he was a good actor, so maybe Roman had been acting the whole time.

Something tore at Virgil and his anxiety spiked.

Dee looked over at Virgil. “Everything okay there, friend?”

Virgil tossed his hood up over his head and grabbed his backpack. “I-I forgot something in my locker I think…” Virgil hurried away, taking a turn into the cafeteria and through the doors that lead outside. Surely with all the people in the large room, Roman wouldn’t see him as he slipped out the doors.

But he had. Not that Virgil would have noticed.

But something felt horrifically wrong when Virgil didn’t show up in theater class later that day, after Roman felt a severe burning pain slash across his side during his fifth period class. It was all Roman could do not to make a scene it was so painful. He clenched his jaw and gripped at his side as discreetly as possible.

Virgil had been gone for a very long time now. Or at least that’s what it felt like. Everyone else in the world would think that Roman and his friends were doing just fine, that everything had gone back to normal. But that was far from the case.

Roman’s motivation to do _anything_ was lower than it had ever been before. He couldn’t remember the last time he was so depressed.

Logan was having more and more panic attacks by the week and even his grades were starting to slip. He couldn’t remember the last time he had been so stressed.

Patton was going insane trying to stay positive. Between trying to help Roman feel _something_ and trying to help Logan with his growing anxiety, Patton’s grades all but hit rock bottom and his emotional state plummeted with them.

Everything was so very wrong with the world.

And then Roman’s brother had to open his mouth.

~~*~~

Roman had just come home from school that day, lethargic as ever.

Remus sat upside down on the couch, Brigit on his chest quietly eating lettuce.

“Hey, Ro-Bro!”

“Hey, Remus…” Roman said tiredly. Usually he would be a bit more exciting, and maybe he would go off and practice his lines or go write a song or play the ukulele, but lately all he wanted to do ever was sleep. Roman plopped himself down next to his brother, who was wearing short overalls with mis-matching knee high socks and a light green crop-top that had a pale yellow smiley face with the eyes crossed out.

“Wow, Roman! You look sadder than a clown stripper with its dick cut off!!” Remus said, turning himself upright to put Brigit away.

“First of all-” Roman tried to ready himself for a little bit of brotherly banter, but found he didn’t have the energy for it. “Ugh, nevermind…”

Remus lowered his tortoise into it’s glass tank and smiled. “Hey I met that purple headed Emo kid you always talked bout a few weeks ago!”

Roman almost instantly sat up straighter, nearly falling off the couch. “What?! You talked to Virgil?!”

Remus snorted. “Oh yeah, I _talked_ to him alright!!”

Roman leaned forward. “What did he say? I he-”

“ _Well_ !” Remus started, turning around and leaning against the wall. “He said that he’s kinda glad to _finally_ be rid of you. He says you were always a nuisance and that It was really your fault he started leaving. _Always_ talking about theater this or music that and shit. You know you really messed that-”

“ _Shut up_.” Roman seethed. Remus stopped and looked at his brother. “I...It wasn’t my...It wasn’t my fault Virgil left..”

Remus smirked and rolled his eyes. “Are you so sure about that, RoRo-”

“ _I SAID SHUT UP_ !!” Roman yelled suddenly. His entire world was in flames. Why was he so angry? “You’re _lying_ !! _You’re LYING_ !!” He curled himself into a ball as thoughts of the cute emo boy flashed in his mind. Of Virgil just pretending to care. Thoughts that he left. That he left and it was all _Roman’s fault_. “You’re lying, it’s not my fault!! He didn’t-!! IT’S NOT MY FAULT!!” Roman screamed and hid his head in his knees, curling into himself to hide his dripping tears.

Remus’s smile had long disappeared as he came and sat down next to his brother. “H-hey, I take it back, I didn’t mean it. Calm down, RoRo, he didn’t say that. I’m sorry.” Remus wrapped his brother up in a hug. It was the most energetic Remus had seen his brother in a very long time and that scared him.

“Remus, what if it _was_ my fault...What if I drove him away? What if he hates me now?” Roman asked softly between sobs. Remus didn’t know how to answer. He didn’t know that the small emo meant so much to his brother. “What if he never comes back and it’s all my fault..?”

“It’s not your fault, Roman. I swear it, okay? I swear it by my dick and breakfast foods.”

Roman gave a sad little chuckle. “That’s quite a promise…”

Remus rubbed his brother’s back in soft comforting circles. “You know I’m not lying then.”

Roman cuddled closer to his brother, one of the few people he could _always_ count on. “I know, Ree...I know.”

Roman actually managed to fall asleep there after a few minutes, and Remus decided he needed the break. He quietly slid Roman out of his arms and went up to his room, phone in hand. He dialed up the number and listened to it ring.

Once.

Twice.

Thre-

“Hello?” The staticky voice answered from the other side.

“I want out. I don’t think this is a good idea anymore, Dee.”

Dee scoffed on the other end. “What? You’ve never had a problem messing with people _before_ Remus.”

“Because _before_ it never affected others or did permanent damage, _Dee_. I want out.”

“No.”

“What do you mean, ‘no?’”

“I mean _no_ , Remus. I still need you for my plan. You _can’t_ just _back out_ of this one, honey.”

Remus calmed his heart and weighed the options. “Fine. But keep Roman _out of this_ . If I find out you’ve done anything to hurt him, I _will fucking kill you_. I will-”

Dee held the phone away from his ear as Remus listed the many gruesome ways he’d supposedly end Dee’s life. The thing was, Dee believed that Remus was telling the truth. The _only_ one allowed to mess with Remus’s brother was Remus. Heaven, hell, and the entire host of souls that have yet to be judged save the person who harms Roman Prince.

Dee put his ear back to the phone. “Fine. We’ll leave Roman out of things.”

Remus let out a silent breath he hadn’t known he was holding in. “Thanks, snakey!”

Dee sighed. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Remus?”

“Of course, DeeDee!”

“I do _hate_ it when you call me that…” Dee smiled on the other end of the phone.

“Cya later, you slithery bastard!!”

“Goodbye, Remus.”

Dee sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose and forcing the smile away from his face. It was going to be a bit harder to enact his plan now that he couldn’t use Roman as leverage, but that was fine. Dee had other ways he could get things done.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually did have a lot of fun writing this chapter!! It was right around this chapter that I actually realized I wanted Remus to be a little more sympathetic than I had first made him out to be.  
> I also had a lot of fun writing Dee in this chapter! His interactions with everyone in the cast is a lot of fun and I just love Janus's character in general- both in and out of soulbound!! (He's always kind of been my favorite...)  
> Anyway! I do hope you're enjoying soulbound!!


	14. An April Fool's Trick

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roman Prince and Logan Rose are soulmates. They’re platonic soulmates though. They both have the same Soul mark to prove it. But they both have one other soul mark, binding them to one other person. And when they find Patton Miles, it just so happens that they’re both his soulmates. Logan being his Soulbound Soulmate, and Roman being a platonic soulmate. But something feels missing. And it feels filled, shockingly so, when they meet a certain someone a year and a half after they found each other.
> 
> Important note: This chapter is not canon to the rest of the story and can be skipped if you would like. It's just a fun little thin I did back in april and wanted to include it.

Virgil woke up with a start. Something felt...off…

The air felt different and outside his window he could hear it raining.

He shrugged it off and decided to get ready for the day. 

Everything lately had been going pretty harshly. Dee was getting worse and Remus...Well Remus wasn't getting better.

It really felt like everything was going to shit lately.

His feelings surrounding Roman and the others hadn't gone away, only worsening over the past few weeks. It hurt a lot not seeing them, so mostly he just tried to forget they ever existed in the first place.

And what Dee had said...He tried to ignore it.

Virgil stepped outside to sullenly greet the cloudy and drab world.

"Another day…" Virgil sighed. It didn't seem like it would be any better than the last few days. It never was…

He had silently resigned himself to walking in the rain and pulled up his hood, reaching for his earbuds when the rain overhead stopped. But it hadn't  _ stopped _ . Instead it was like someone was blocking the rain now.

But you see the fact that the rain had stopped isn't actually what had caught Virgil's attention. No no...What had caught  _ his _ attention was the  _ reason _ it had stopped.

Behind him someone stood, taller than him, holding their coat over their and Virgil's head.

"Hey!" He said, the voice so very very familiar and heart-wrenching all the same.

Virgil spun around to face his old friend. “Wait,  _ Roman _ ?!”

Roman smiled from where he stood in the rain, his white and red hoodie looking dashing on him. “Hey, Virge!” He called sheepishly, a light dusting of pink visible on his cheeks. “Sorry for sneaking up on you like that, but I didn’t want you to get rained on…” His smile was a shy one that Virgil would have never pictured seeing on the bubbly and charming boy that stood before him. Roman held out his hand for Virgil. “Hey, I have some things I want to talk about. Is it okay if I walk with you to school or something…?”

Virgil nodded, but kept his hands to himself, feeling heat rise in his own cheeks.

The pair fell into step with one another and were quiet for a while.

“Hey, so why did you leave…?” Roman asked softly.

Virgil sighed. It had been months since they’d spoken. And Virgil wasn’t sure if it was because he had had enough of living with Dee’s bullshit, or if he wanted to let Roman be satisfied with driving him away, or if he was just sick and tired of keeping secrets, but Virgil told him. “It was because you were all soulmates.” He said, kicking a rock across the sidewalk. “Truth be told, Roman, knowing you guys were soulmates when I wasn’t...Well that stacked with the fact that I will  _ never _ have a-” Virgil stopped himself. He didn’t want to lie anymore. But how could he tell Roman that he doesn’t have any soulmates? Virgil sighed. His depression had overcome his anxiety at this point and he spilled. “The fact that I’ll never have a soulmate of my own…”

He looked over at Roman expecting to see a sad or shocked face, only to be met with a wide smile.

“What…?” Virgil asked, looking away and feeling his face light up at the attention. “Why are you so happy about- SHIT WHAT THE FUCK!!” Virgil slammed his hand onto the back of his hand. It felt like he had cut it with something. He looked over at Roman who held an exacto knife in one hand, while the back of his other bore a small, thin red line across it, Romans green eyes glittering with excitement.

“I  _ knew _ it!!!” He yelled. And suddenly Virgil was being spun around in the air.

“What?! What the  _ fuck _ ?!” Virgil yelled. Roman set the boy down, both their hoods having fallen off in the rain. “What the actual  _ fuck _ is going on?!”

Roman smiled brightly, his hands on Virgil’s arms. “Vee, We’re  _ soulmates _ !!”

Virgil blinked. “What fuckery is this?”

Roman laughed heartily and slid his hands down to fit in Virgil’s. At that moment, Virgil felt like a static shock had shot through his entire body through his fingertips, a warm, dream-like feeling slowly following it. It felt like a slowly blossoming flowers and sweet honey, and it reminded Virgil of every good and right thing in the world. He thought of when he was still a child and he chased butterflies, one of them landing softly on his cheek and another in his hair. It was warm and it was bright and it was unlike anything Virgil had ever felt before.

“Holy shit…”Virgil breathed.

Roman’s face was no longer just happy, but shocked. “Wait a moment…!! Virgil!! Do you know what this  _ means _ ?!!” Roman asked, picking Virgil up again. Damn he was strong.

“Uh…?! No?! I don’t know what the hell is even going on!!!” Roman set Virgil down again.

“His means that not only are we soulmates, but we’re  _ soulbound _ !! Virgil, this is the happiest day of my  _ life _ !!” Roman spun him around,  _ again _ . He seemed to  _ really _ like doing that.

Virgil thought he was going into shock. It was still raining, if not  _ pouring _ now, Roman had run up to Virgil after months of not speaking and had claimed that they were  _ soulmates _ before then taking another drastic jump and saying they were  _ soulbound soulmates _ . What was he even supposed to make of that?! “Hold  _ on _ , Roman!! Back up for a few seconds!! Where the hell is this all coming from?!”

Roman stopped. “Oh yeah I forgot to tell you!!” Roman set Virgil down and began explaining everything at hyper speed.

What had happened was that Logan had a dream. He had a dream about something he distinctly remembered. It was the time they all had a movie night together. Accept it was through the eyes of  _ Virgil _ . Logan put two and two together and made the connection that they must be soulmates who dream in each other’s memories.

From there, Logan ran a few more tests and found out that Patton was also connected to Virgil through his emotions. He said that one took them the longest to figure out.

And lastly, Logan had made a connection between Roman’s phantom pains he knew he had and Virgil. Logan said it was sad but Virgil always wore a hoodie or jacket at all times and the kinds of pains Roman was experiencing lined up.

And before Logan could ask Roman to test out the theory, Roman had gone running to Virgil’s house.

Virgil and Roman had decided school could wait a little and were sitting at a table in a nearby cafe, the kind that all the highschool kids hit before going to spend seven hours trapped inside that hell-hole.

“So…” Virgil started slowly. “You’re telling me…” His thoughts began to fly through his memories, from when he’d first met Roman till now, every time he’d thought about the taller boy. The times he’d watch him sing in theater. The times he’d look fondly at him while he’d rant about the latest disney movie. The time he watched movies with him at Logan’s house. The time he was the only one who noticed he was upset after that last day they talked at lunch. “You’re telling me that we’re soulmates…? That we’re  _ soulbound _ soulmates…?” At that moment Virgil started making connections to his emotions. He looked up and stared at Roman with wide and panicked eyes. “Holy shit am I in love with you?!”

Roman laughed loudly before putting his hand on Virgil’s. “Oh, Virge, you’re funny!! If you are, that's fantastic!!” He lowered his head a little. “...Are you…?”

Virgil took a moment to rethink everything. “Ooohh fuck I think I am…”

Roman leaned over the table. “Perfect!!” He said, winking. He started to drag Virgil out of the booth with a wide smile gracing his ever lovely face. “Come with me then!!”

Roman grabbed Virgil by the hand and took him outside the cafe. It was still raining, but it didn’t seem like either of them really cared. Virgil was lost in his own mind, trying to wrap his head around what had happened, and Roman was too happy to care about a little rain.

Virgil felt like he really should be panicking, but he couldn’t bring himself to. Being around Roman again was already so calming, and then finding out that they were soulmates...Again he felt like he  _ should _ be panicking, but instead he was overwhelmingly happy.

After years upon years of thinking he was hopeless and would be alone, he finally had hope. Roman was his hope. Virgil wouldn’t be alone anymore.

~~*~~

Dee sat in his first period class. He was a bit bitter today. Actually he was a bit bitter most days. He was still upset over the fact that Remus had wanted to leave and was even more upset about the fact that he wasn’t able to use Roman as bait anymore.

Virgil hadn’t shown up that day and Dee was starting to get a little pissed.

First period came and went. No Virgil.

Second period came by. Dee looked for Virgil but couldn’t find him where he should have been able to.

Third period rolled around. Still no Virgil.

_ Where the hell is he?! _

~~*~~

The rain was starting to die down when Roman and Virgil finally reached their destination.

“Roman, where are we?” Virgil asked with a light laugh. He had decided on the way over to just let himself enjoy this time instead of worrying about it.

Roman had taken him to a house that Virgil recognized wasn’t far from Logan’s. The house had a yellow door, like Virgil’s, but it wasn’t at all strange. It was warm and welcoming, and looked like it belonged with the house.

“Just come inside with me, I wanted to show you something!” Roman tugged Virgil along softly, Virgil starting to realize this must be Roman’s house.

He followed the eager boy into the house and let himself be led to the living room. Virgil sat down on the couch, laughing and teasing Roman when he told him to stay put. Virgil sat on the sofa and took in his surroundings. There was a tortoise in a glass tank chewing softly on some lettuce, there was a bowl on the table leftover from breakfast, there were two play swords leaning in one corner of the room, probably left over from childhood. Virgil began fondly daydreaming about a small ten year old Roman dueling his brother with the swords, or playing princes. It seemed very fitting.

Roman finally came back down stairs.

Virgil could barely contain his laughter. “ _ What _ are you wearing?” He said with a bright smile he tried to hide under his hand.

Roman puffed. “Hey, this was a fabulous idea!!” He whined. Roman was dressed in a prince’s costume and held a bouquet of flowers in one hand. Granted, they were fake flowers and there were only about five of them, but it was sweet. Roman knelt down, taking Virgil’s hand theatrically. Virgil rolled his eyes. “My dearest Virgil Sanders, my light, my joy, my love, and-”

“Cheesy, oaf…” Virgil smirked, trying to ignore his blush.

“Shush,” Roman whispered. He cleared his throat. “The one who is my soulmate, the one that is bound to me for forever more…” He paused dramatically and looked up at Virgil. “...Will you be my boyfriend…?” He asked timidly.

Virgil burst out laughing and Roman stood back up. Virgil threw his arms around Roman’s neck and calmed himself down. “Sure, Princey!”

And in a moment of no fear, Virgil leaned forward and kissed Roman.

Before promptly pulling far apart with a violently blushing face, stuttering just as violently. “Oh, no, no, no I-I’m sorry, Ro! I just- I don’t know- I didn’t really know what happened there, it just felt  _ right _ and I’m so sorry-”

Roman placed a hand under Virgil’s chin and brought his face to look at him. “Hey…” He said softly. He tilted Virgil’s head up ever so slightly more and gave him a kiss. This one lasted much longer than the other and felt warm and soft. They pulled apart. “I don’t mind, really.” Roman said, smiling.

With that, Virgil started to cry.

~~*~~

Virgil and Roman had a very long talk about things. Virgil’s emotions had gotten the best of him and he had started crying. He had never felt so loved in all his life and it finally all came crashing down. They had a very long talk about Roman’s phantom pains and what that meant for Virgil. And finally, they talked about why Virgil left.

“Well, at first it was because I felt like you guys wouldn’t actually accept me…” Virgil said. He sat on Roman’s couch, his legs thrown over his lap, his body falling perfectly into the crook of Roman’s arm. “But then it was because of Dee. Like he was nice and-”

“Wait, Dee?” Roman interrupted Virgil. “As in Dee Smith? As in  _ Deceit _ ?”

Virgil looked at Roman. “I mean, I’ve never heard him called that before, but I guess?”

Roman sat up a little straighter and stared out at the wall blankly. “Okay...Continue…” Roman decided it would be best if he kept his cool for now. Decei-  _ Dee’s _ malicious actions fluctuated from mild name calling and teasing to full on psychotic bastard. Roman didn’t want to have an overreaction.

“Okay…” Virgil started slowly again. “Well I mean he was pretty good at first. We played games in our first period, he would help me work things out, neither of us had soulmarks or anything, and I kind of felt like I  _ had _ to stick with him. I mean, he was trying to help me, for one, and for another, I felt like if I left, he wouldn’t have anyone left either.” Virgil sighed and snuggled close to Roman. It was weird how comfortable and right everything all felt, even after all this time. “Things started to get worse though. He started pushing his opinions onto me, he wouldn’t let me say no, he hit me once or twice, but it wasn’t a big deal. It was only like once, so- Hey where are you going?”

Roman got up off the couch silently and started walking out the door, pausing only to put on his shoes and call to Virgil. “I’m going to school. I’ll be back in like an hour or so. Maybe more. But I’ll be back, I promise!” And Roman closed the door.

“Oh, shit…” Virgil said, getting up too.

~~*~~

Dee Was sitting in the stairwell. Remus was off doing god knows what today, and so Dee was alone at lunch for the meantime.

Whatever. He didn’t care. Not like he was upset that Remus left him alone.  _ Again _ . For the third time in two weeks. And besides. No one around meant he could plot and plan things. Maybe he could smoke even…

That was all interrupted when he saw Roman Prince storming up to him from the hallway.

“Oh! Good afternoon, Mr. High-And-Mighty!! How may I serve-”

Dee didn’t get the chance before his face got an exceptionally close look at Roman’s fist.

“Ow!! Fu _ ck _ !! Goddammit why does your face hurt to punch?!”

Dee got up and blinked at the raging boy in front of him. “What the hell, Prince?” He asked, touching his lip. It came back a little red.

Roman shook out his hand and pulled back to throw another punch. But everyone knew Roman Prince wasn’t a fighter. The only reason he wasn’t a little twig was the fact that he used to take ballet- a detail Dee scrounged off of Remus.

Dee on the other hand, had been in many fights. People tended to get angsty when their dealer cut them short for cash.

Dee dodged under and around the back of Roman and kicked him hard in the back, sending him tumbling to the stairs. Dee wasn’t the  _ strongest _ boy in school, not by a longshot. But he was small and wiry, a fast little shit.

Roman got up and spun on Dee again, swinging again only to miss. He tried again, feinting left and hitting him hard in the ribs with his right hand. Dee stumbled back into the lockers and looked up just in time to see Roman’s fist coming at his face again. Enough time to  _ see _ it, but not enough to avoid it. Roman shook out his hand and Dee caught him whisper. “Sorry, Vee…”

Dee spat at Roman’s feet, the saliva tainted a pinkish red color. “You little bastard…” Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a black and purple form approaching him, out of breath.  _ Awh, hell yeah! This is perfect!! _ “Virgil, look!! You see what this shit did! I saw him trying to trick another kid and I tried to step-”

“Shut up, Dee!” Virgil snapped. “You lied to me. You may not be the best person, but Roman, you have no right to try and beat him up-”

“Virgil, he abused you emotionally and physically sometimes. I think that’s reason enough to beat his ass to hell and back.”

“Well…”

“Virgil, you  _ know _ I wouldn’t try and hurt you like that!!” Dee called desperately.

Virgil’s eyes suddenly flared up, angry. “Oh,  _ really _ ?” He stepped forward. “You  _ really _ wouldn’t try and,  _ manipulate _ me,  _ lie _ to me, or  _ control _ me? Oh!! Well that clears everything up!!” He shouted sarcastically.

Roman seemed to get what was going on and backed off a bit.

“On top of that, you’re never kind to me  _ or _ Remus, and you know what, you  _ should try _ and be a little more kind to him!! He’s hopelessly in love with you, you know. And you treat him like a pawn!! You treat  _ him _ like a pawn and you treated me with less respect than the dirt you walk on.”

He turned to leave, but Dee caught his wrist. “ _ You’re not getting- _ ”

Virgil snapped his hand out of the grasp and glared searing daggers at the shorter boy. “I’m not  _ what _ ?”

Something about Virgil’s voice must have set something off in Dee, because fear settled solidly in his amber eyes. He let Virgil Sanders leave with Roman Prince, the pair walking side by side and hand in hand.

“Damn it…”

~~*~~

After that, Virgil and Roman reconnected with Logan and Patton.

Many tears and happy smiles were shared. They all ditched back to Thomas’s house after school and had a very happy reunion that was celebrated with many snacks and food and Virgil’s favorite movies, The Black Caldron and Lilo and Stitch.

Thomas was overjoyed that Virgil was back in a better mood and was happy to let them use his house.

Patton cried a waterfall and made a thousand puns, retelling ones that Virgil had missed in the time he was gone.

Logan hugged him tightly and refused to let go for a full three minutes. When he finally did separate from Virgil, he stepped away and claimed he had missed him an adequate amount to fill the rest of his life and that should Virgil leave again, he would be... _ upset _ . Of course the fact that he was trying to be serious was ruined by the fact that he was also crying.

And Roman...Well let’s just say Roman and Virgil had missed each other quite a lot more than expected. Perhaps Roman showered Virgil in little kisses every five minutes, perhaps not. Not that anyone would tell. If asked, Patton would tell you that they were the most lovey-dovey couple he’d ever seen.

Virgil...Was finally okay. He was okay with himself and he was okay with life. He had a family surrounding him, he had a boyfriend, he had his soulmates, he had everything he thought he would never have.

He excused himself and walked outside for a few minutes. The rain from that morning was starting to dry in the sun now, and the world smelled fresh again. Like it’s darkest days were done with.

“Virgil!! We’re gonna start Hercules!! Come in and watch!!” Roman called from the open window.

Virgil smiled at the sun and turned around. “Coming!!”

The world was finally right…

...Wait a minute.

Hold on!!

What do you mean- oh.

Oh my goodness!!

Well this is embarrassing...I mean not for me! For the author though,  _ definitely _ . It turns out he got his chapters mixed up!!

What’s that? Oh. Ooohh!! Okay.

No, so he  _ didn’t _ get the chapters mixed up! As it turns out, he wasn’t done with the angst.

What?

You thought he was gonna let them be  _ happy _ ?

Ha!! Oh, reader, you’re funny!

Happy April fools day folks!! <3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HA!!! Anyone coming over from Tumblr I BET YOU THOUGHT I'D LEAVE THIS CHAPTER OUT!!  
> Honestly this chapter was the MOST fun to write! I had been planning it for a LONG time and it worked out more perfectly than I had ever anticipated!! I really AM sorry for anyone who actually got upset about this chapter, it was just a fun little prank. And don't worry, I still have another two chapters for you guys, if not three if I can actually finish chapter 16.  
> I had a lot of fun writing this, and I hope you enjoyed reading this alternate ending!!  
> Stay Fresh and Minty, folks!!  
> It IS important to note!!! That NOTHING IN THIS CHAPTER IS CANON TO THE REST OF THE STORY!! It was just a little april fools prank I posted and wanted to repost here because I loved it so much. I hope that clears things up a bit!!


	15. Cold Sleep

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roman Prince and Logan Rose are soulmates. They’re platonic soulmates though. They both have the same Soul mark to prove it. But they both have one other soul mark, binding them to one other person. And when they find Patton Miles, it just so happens that they’re both his soulmates. Logan being his Soulbound Soulmate, and Roman being a platonic soulmate. But something feels missing. And it feels filled, shockingly so, when they meet a certain someone a year and a half after they found each other.
> 
> I actually have some severe warnings for this chapter in particular.  
> There is explicit self harm in this chapter, skip from "Virgil in an act of panic and rage and grief” to “He thought life might have gotten better.”  
> There is also explicit abuse in this chapter, however it does not last long. Skip from ““Hey, Dee, maybe you should calm down-”” to “For someone so small”  
> Thank you for reading and if there ever is ANYTHING you would like me to tag, do not ever hesitate to ask me!!

Virgil ran off campus. He couldn’t bear it anymore. The truth that Roman never cared about him in the first place, that his entire friendship with the preppy boy with a cute smile had all been a  _ lie _ . With his backpack on his shoulders he sprinted off campus, thoughts boiling in his mind, too fast to even catch a glimpse of them. His head was full of noise and he couldn’t control it.

The weight of his thoughts forced him to stop when he reached a small park devoid of children playing. It was winter after all and school was still in session. It was a lucky break for Virgil that he wouldn’t have an audience to worry about.

He slunk near the bushes anyway and curled up on the ground, listening to his thoughts as they made more and more terrifying suggestions.

_ Roman never cared about me Roman never cared about me Roman never cared about me- _

He thought of the day he met the tall, spunky boy. He was happy and bright, he seemed like he actually wanted to be his friend, something Virgil hadn’t experienced before. He remembered taking a chance, giving himself a break and letting himself believe that Roman was right, that Roman wanted to be his friend just for the sake of wanting to be his friend.

_ All lies. _

Virgil unzipped his backpack to search for something.

_ Logan was just playing along Logan was just playing along Logan was just playing along- _

He thought of the day he had gone to Logan’s house to study. He had opened up to Virgil, and for once in his life, Virgil felt like he had done something  _ right _ , that he had helped someone. He remembered the way Logan smiled at him through teary eyes when everything had calmed down, and how Virgil felt happy just to be there.

_ All manipulation. _

Virgil found the pair of scissors he had started bringing to school with him and brought them out. They were purple and black, not that it mattered.

_ Patton couldn’t have cared less Patton couldn’t have cared less Patton couldn’t have cared less- _

He thought of the few days before the movie night when he had been stressed out of his mind. He remembered the way Patton had helped him through that with warm helpful smiles and and cool calming mints, how Patton’s hugs were always warm and soft and how his smile had cut through to Virgil, He remembered how genuine it all felt.

_ All an act. _

Virgil in an act of panic and rage and grief, snapped the two halves of the scissors apart, the cheap plastic scattering, one shard cutting his cheek. Not that Virgil cared. He brought his hand with one half of the blade over to his side and was thankful that he always wore a black shirt and hoodie.

_ None of it was ever real. _

Virgil sucked in his breath, keeping it quiet as he drew the blade across his side, clinging to the pain it brought, desperately trying to find the stress release in the act.  _ There was none _ .

Virgil let the blade fall away from his grasp and on to the ground. He didn’t dare look at the thing, the horrible horrible thing he’d done. He crumpled up in the grass and silently began to sob.

He thought life might have gotten better.

He thought that maybe he could have been happy.

But everything,  _ everything _ was horrible and worse than it had  _ ever _ been before.

Virgil tried to convince himself that Dee was a good person. Sure he believed him, but there was also something else that didn’t quite sit right with him. He knew something was wrong. He  _ knew _ it. He just didn’t want to believe it. How could he do that? Dee had taken him in. He had become his friend. How could he ever think that he could be a bad person. And besides, even if Dee  _ was _ a bad person...Neither of them had anyone else. They were Soulless. No one else was like that...They had no choice but to stick together.

And that somehow only made Virgil feel worse.

Somehow, through the ‘miracle’ of emotional exhaustion, Virgil ended up asleep next to the bushes, tears fresh on his face, too lethargic to care about anything or anyone anymore.

~~*~~

Remy and Emile walked along the road hand in hand. Emile was ranting about the latest disney movie again and Remy was pretending to not care while looking at his phone with the screen turned off so he could see his boyfriend’s face without looking like he was staring because  _ that _ would be embarrassing.

They were passing a small park, abandoned in the cold of winter. Emile was gushing about the fire spirit from frozen two when something caught Remy’s eye.

“And it’s just so  _ cute _ -”

“Hey, babe wait a moment…” Remy said, looking past his boyfriend and into the park. “Isn’t that the kid from like, the beginning of school or whatever?” He pointed with his phone.

Emile looked to where a small boy with purple hair and dark clothes lay in the cold grass near the bushes in the back of the park, his backpack having fallen over and a few of his books peeking out of the open bag.

Emile gasped. “I mean, I don’t know what or who you’re talking about but he looks like he needs help- c’mon, honey!!” 

Emile ran up to the kid, Remy opting to walk. Seeing the kid like that hit a bit close to home for him and he’d rather keep his distance.

As Remy neared, he saw Emile holding something in his hands. Seeing the object made the shorter boy turn his gaze away and grimace, feeling a little sick. He knew what happened here. And he didn’t want to get involved with something like that. At least not now.

“Hey, Em, can I, like, meet you back at your place, or something?”

Emile nodded, understanding. “Oh, of  _ course _ , Honeybee! I’m gonna wake the kid up and see if I can talk to him first.”

Remy leaned down as Emile sat up, planting a quick kiss on his lips before he left.

Emile turned back to the small kid on the ground and shook him lightly. He shook him again and as he stirred, Emile remembered the scissor blade in his hand and chucked it into the bushes behind him, along with the other half.

“Wha…?” The response was slow and bleary. “What’s going on…? Where am I…??” The kid sat up and looked around before his eyes grew a little wide and his hand traveled to his side, gripping it. “Oh…” He said softly, only to himself. The boy noticed Emile and turned to him. “Wait who are you? I’m sorry I fell asleep here I just was a bit tired I guess or-” The boy had started getting up and Emile placed a gentle hand on his.

“Hold on. I’m here to help you, okay!” Emile smiled, letting the boy stand, rising to join him as well. “My name’s Emile Picani. Wanna tell me why you were in the grass…?”

Virgil looked down. “I’m Virgil. I was just a little tired after school I guess.”

Emile placed a hand on Virgil’s arm, ignoring the fact that he felt like he’d heard that name before. “I know that’s not the case. It’s okay to talk about it!! I really don’t mind listening! In fact I’d  _ love _ to listen!”

Virgil shrugged. “It doesn’t matter…”

“I’d like to contrast that! I think it matters!”

“Well it doesn’t really. You can’t change it anyway, so why bother telling you?”

“Well, maybe it will make you feel better! Make you feel like  _ you _ can try and change something!”

“It’s not that simple…”

“Well nothing is  _ simple _ , but maybe if you tell me, I can help make it easier.”

“...I’m not so sure...Whatever. Fine.”

“Great! I’m happy to help!”

Emile got Virgil talking, the pair taking a seat on the abandoned swings. Virgil ended up very sullenly and begrudgingly telling Emile about Dee and everyone else in as little detail as possible. He didn’t feel like talking really. His entire being felt like a big gaping pit, stained with the dullest remnants of color, washed away and bleak with fear and depression. Like a monster had come and made its home in his chest and Virgil was only the compliant vessel for the nesting beast.

Emile tried to talk to Virgil. He really did. But Virgil was so low that Emile wasn’t even sure that the poor kid could even hear him.

Finally, Virgil stopped Emile’s talking. “Hey, listen. I appreciate you trying to help me...Emile was it? But I think it’s time I left.”

And with that, Virgil got up and left. He walked and walked, and found that his feet didn’t take him home, like he’d expected, but to Thomas’s house. It was a weird thing, coming to his brother’s house on instinct seeing as it was much farther than his own house and he hadn’t been there in a few weeks.

_ Does he want to see me…? Ugh, probably not. I’m probably going to be bothering him… _ Virgil started off to leave before he heard a door open behind him. “Virgil?”  _ Shit… _ Virgil pivoted on his heels and faced his brother. “Hey, Vee. Whatcha doing out here?”

Virgil didn’t even know why he was there. But his mouth did, apparently. “I’m just having a bit of a hard time...I didn’t want to go home…”

Thomas rushed up to Virgil and let the smaller boy collapse into his arms, tears clearly building up in his blue eyes. “Hey, it’s okay, Virge...You can spend the night here. You can call Deva in the morning if you want.”

Virgil made a small noise of acceptance and let his older brother lead him inside the small house. It was starting to get a little dark when pizza arrived at the house and Virgil ate slowly. He had hardly finished one slice when he said he was getting tired. Thomas made him a bed on the couch and went up to his room. It was about ten minutes later that Virgil realized with tired dread that he had mistakenly left his backpack behind in the park. Too tired to care or do anything about it, Virgil drifted off into a nightmare ridden sleep.

~~*~~

When Remy got back to Emile’s house he flopped over on the couch, trying to put aside the thought of the small boy laying in the grass that reminded him so harshly of a younger version of himself. Just as he was about to get up and make a sweet smoothie, his phone began ringing.

He picked it up and looked at the number before answering. “Heyya RoRo, what’s up gurl!” He asked in a cheery voice.

“Actually, I was wondering if you could come over and help me with something, Rem? I kinda need someone to talk to and Remus isn’t the best at giving advice.”

Remy looked over at the clock and sighed. “Yeah, I’ll be over in like, idunno, like ten minutes? Cya soon honey-cakes.”

“Why do you always-”

Remy hung up the phone and left, grabbing Emile’s keys on the way out. He arrived at Roman’s house and walked in the door, not bothering to knock. “HEY GURL!! I’M HERE SO GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE!!”

Roman nearly fell down the stairs and stood awkwardly in front of Remy. “Hey, Rem. Thanks for coming. I’ve kinda got this...Problem…”

Remy put an arm around the taller boy and led him out of the entryway. “Aight, hun. Tell auntie Rem  _ all _ about it.”

They sat down on the couch and Roman hesitantly relayed what had been happening with Virgil. How he left and never talked anymore, how he was afraid that it was all his fault, how he didn’t know what to do to even begin to fix it.

“Well. It looks to me like you’re just being a stupid ass idiot, babe.”

“I’m sorry? I mean i’m sure it’s obvious and I’m just missing the whole point…”

“Yeah. You are. You want to fix your friendship with this boy? Go off and  _ talk to the man _ !! You’re sittin here bitchin about being all lonely and shit, go and  _ do _ somethin bout it, hun!! Get  _ off your ass _ and go get you your man!!”

“I don’t like him like tha-”

“Shush it works m’kay? Auntie Rem knows what to do, honey child.”

Roman sighed. He wanted to believe that Remy was right, but he was still hesitant. “Alright. Thanks, Remy.”

Remy smiled. “Course, gurl! Now I gotta skedaddle on outta here before Em, like, misses me or something. Cya, RoRo!!”

And like that Remy was gone. Though something didn’t sit right with him. He felt like he wasn’t the one that should have been talking to Roman. It left a pit in his stomach which he tried to ignore as he drove back to Emile’s place.

~~*~~

Virgil awoke the next day to Thomas making breakfast. “Heyya, Virge! Sorry if you wanted something else for breakfast, I only have toaster waffles and cereal. But I’m making eggs if you want!!”

Virgil stretched. He was grateful that Thomas hadn’t asked him about his mood the night before, and was even happier that he was at least trying to make him something to eat before school too.

“Oh by the way, I think I accidentally left my backpack at the park on 3rd street. Can we swing by there to see if it’s still there. If not I think my friend would have picked it up…”

“You left your backpack at a park? You’ll be lucky if it wasn’t stolen.”

“I know, it was kinda stupid of me…”

“Eh, we all make stupid mistakes. I once went over to Joan’s house to shoot a video and forgot the camera  _ and _ the costumes. They laughed at me for like a week after that.”

Thomas and Virgil came to the park and looked around for his backpack. And after a solid ten minutes, Virgil had to resign himself using loose-leaf paper and a pencil borrowed from Thomas for the rest of the day. And while Virgil tried to hide how anxious he was, Thomas consoled him anyway.

The day was slow as hell being dragged through a tar pit. And when lunch rolled around, it was like getting punched in the stomach. Dee was extra pissed for some reason and took it out on Virgil.

“Hey, Dee, maybe you should calm down-” Virgil dared to suggest after his friend had thrown a book across the hall.

Dee turned and backhanded Virgil. “I have a  _ right _ to be angry!! And  _ you _ are  _ not _ helping it,  _ Virgil _ !! So shut that fuck up before I  _ really _ get pissed, you whiney bitch!!”

For someone so small, it really was a wonder that he held so much anger in his body. Or perhaps it made sense. He was too small to hold all the rage inside him, so it spilled out a lot. Virgil was learning to shut his mouth.

_ Emile was wrong...There’s nothing I can do here...If I try and leave him, he’ll come after me...And besides...It’s...It’s not all  _ that _ bad. _

After school, right before Virgil started to leave campus, a hand caught his arm.

“Hey, gurl, you left this with my man yesterday.” Virgil turned to see the boy with aviator shades from the first day of school. He held Virgil’s backpack in one hand, a starbucks cup in the other.

“Oh…” Virgil said dumbly. “You’re Emile’s boyfriend, then?”  _ What are you saying?! Just take the backpack and be done with it!! _ “Remy, right?”

Remy nodded. “That’s right!” He pulled the collar of his shirt down, revealing a tattoo of a rabbit in a bubble just under his collar bone. “The one and only, babe!” He smiled. He held out Virgil’s backpack and Virgil took it.

“Thanks for bringing this…”

“No problem, gurl.”

The silence that stretched between them was not a comfortable one.

“So I guess I’ll be going then…” Virgil started, turning on his heels to walk away.

“Wait, hun.” Remy’s voice was a little hesitant. And Virgil hadn’t known him long, but it seemed out of character for him.

“Yeah…?”

“Do you want to talk about shit? I can tell Emi didn’t get through to you and I’m worried as hell.”

Virgil thought for a moment. “Sure.”

They walked a little ways before stopping at the same small park Virgil had been at before.

“So...Tell me what’s up hun. I know what you did so you don’t have to hide shit from me.”

Virgil took a deep breath. He didn’t know what it was about Remy, but he felt more relaxed around him. Maybe it was because he’d met him before. Maybe it was because he didn’t seem to hold back when he talked. Maybe it was because he reminded Virgil of Roman in a weird way. But whatever it was, Virgil spilled. He told Remy about Roman and the others, about Dee and Remus, he even told him a little bit about his mother and Thomas.

Finally, after a long while of just sitting and listening, Remy spoke. “Damn. You really are like little baby me, arent’cha hun?”

“What…?”

Remy leaned back a bit. “See, I was in the same sitch as you, gurl. ‘Cept worse. My dad’s a god-awful human being. Hates the fact that I’m a gay. He all but kicked me outta the house when he found out. And when I was a few years younger than you, I fell for a pretty nasty dude. He’d talk shit about me, make me feel like the shit he was talking, and damn I still got the scars to prove it.” Virgil looked at Remy with wide eyes. Remy turned to face him. 

“Things got real bad real fast. I was with that bastard for like, a  _ year _ . Emi found me all broken and whiney and helped me get outta there. What I’m tryin to say kid is that, Dee? He’s not there to be your friend. He doesn’t like you, he’s never going to ease up on any bad thing he’s doing to you, and, hun? You gotta fucking  _ run _ . Yeah, it’s gonna fucking  _ suck _ for a while, he might try and come after your pretty lil head, but if you run, you’ll eventually get away, babe.”

Remy took a sip from his cup before continuing. “And RoRo? Yeah that slimy lil bastard lied to you about him. Roman Prince is one of the sweetest motherfuckers in the entire goddamn school! And I  _ swear _ to you, honey-child, that if you want to go back to him and be his friend, he’ll take you back without a second thought.” Remy got up and held out his hand to Virgil. “This is your slap in the face, Vee. If you want  _ anything _ to get better,  _ make it better yourself _ .”

~~*~~

After school was over, Emile went to go find Roman. Remy had told him that the poor theater kid needed to talk to someone else about it.

“Hey, Roman!!” Emile smiled brightly at the brown haired boy. “Hey, Remy told me you were feeling a little out of sorts, and I just wanted to check in with you! See if you wanted to talk about some more…?” Emile pitched the end of the sentence up, turning it into a question.

Roman huffed and slouched against the wall. He gave Emile a sideways glance and stood up a little straighter. “Actually...I think talking about it with you might help some…”

They found a quiet spot just off campus and Roman relayed his entire delema again, relaxing a little more around Patton’s cousin.

“Well...I can tell you a few things.” Emile started. “First, it’s not your fault that Virgil left. Sometimes people drift away naturally.” Emile smiled comfortingly at Roman. “The second is that if you want him back, you should probably try and take that risk of talking to him!! Ya know? It may be a little awkward at first, but you’ll be happier in the long run if you get your friend back!”

Roman huffed. “And what if he doesn’t want to be friends again…?”

“If he doesn’t want to be friends again, then all we can do is try and accept that. And if you’re still upset, you can always just try and be nice to him. Think happy thoughts!”

“And what if he gets angry about it…?”

“Does that sound like something he’d do? And if he does, then he was never worth it in the first place.”

“And what if it works…? What if it works and he wants to be friends again?”

Emile laughed softly. “Then I’m sure the universe will work itself out from there. It’ll all be okay, Roman. Sometimes the best option is to take a chance and just go for it!”

Roman smiled and stood up. “You’re right! Life  _ is _ full of chances!!”

“Well, that’s not exactly what I said, but sure!!”

Roman turned toward the sun dramatically. “I’ll bring you home, Virgil!! Just you wait! I’m coming for you, I promise!” And in the sunlight of early March, Roman thought of Virgil smiling once again where he belonged.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright! We finally got some sense knocked into these boys! I remember I had this chapter planned out for the last three chapters because I wanted to start incorporating Remy and Emile into the story more because I love them.  
> And the beginning of this chapter IS very angsty, but this is probably the most explicit and heavy it'll get. I WILL warn you before hand if there is anything else extremely explicit though.  
> I hope you're all enjoying Soulbound so far! Only one more chapter before we're all caught up with the story! Stay fresh and minty, friends!!


	16. A Familiar Breath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roman Prince and Logan Rose are soulmates. They’re platonic soulmates though. They both have the same Soul mark to prove it. But they both have one other soul mark, binding them to one other person. And when they find Patton Miles, it just so happens that they’re both his soulmates. Logan being his Soulbound Soulmate, and Roman being a platonic soulmate. But something feels missing. And it feels filled, shockingly so, when they meet a certain someone a year and a half after they found each other.

Virgil had worked himself up over night. He had asked for Remy’s number and hadn’t been able to stop himself from calling and texting him every ten minutes for encouragement and advice.

“Are you  _ sure _ this will work? Are you  _ sure  _ standing up is the right thing to do?”

“ _ Gurl _ , trust me on this, m’kay? And if you really want, I’ll come with ya to make sure like, nothing bad happens or whatever.”

“No! I mean it’s fine. I can do this.”

“Alright then, hun. I’m hella proud of you by the way. Takes a lot of guts to stand up to a bitch like Dee-Dee-Deceit.”

“Thanks, Remy…”

“Pah- _ lease _ , hun. You’ve passed the point where you can just call me Rem, darling.”

“Thanks, Rem.”

“No problem, babe. I’ll catchya at school Hun!”

Virgil was more than nervous. After almost half a year of being with Dee, dealing with him, putting up with abuse, staying with him because he thought that was the only place he would ever belong,  _ finally _ , he was done with it.

Virgil got out of bed and got ready for the day, pulling on a dark t-shirt over his tank top, pulling on a loose black plaid zip up. Black, weathered skinny jeans and a pair of converse that Thomas had given him a few months prior, shoes he had only worn once because Dee said that converse were more his thing. He applied his makeup, something that he never left the house without, and left for school.

First period passed with a test, no words exchanged between the two. Virgil was almost glad for it. It meant he could take his time standing up without making a big spectacle.

His other classes went by painfully slow, Patton missing from his second period, and with his thoughts so wrapped up in anxious turnings, he didn’t notice the way Roman stared excitedly at him from across the room when third started.

In fact, Virgil was so in his own mind, that when Roman  _ did _ come up to talk to him, he brushed him off without noticing what was happening.

“Virgil! Hey I wanted to talk to you-”

“Yeah, yeah...Okay not now, Princey...I’ll, uh...See ya later or somethin…”

“You want to see me later…?” 

“Yeah, just a bit busy right now…”

Roman nearly jumped up and down with delight. “Alright!! See you later, Vee!!”

“Cya, Ro…” Virgil trailed off distractedly.

Finally lunch rolled around and Virgil headed over to the stairwell to wait for Dee.

“Hey, Vee. Remus couldn’t make it today, something about being-” Dee started, beginning to set down his stuff.

“Dee, I need to talk to you.” Virgil blurted, trying desperately to ignore his beating heart.

“Oh? Alright.”

“I..I think-”

“C’mon now. Spit it out then.”

“Listen...I just...I don’t-”

“What? You scared or something?”

“You need to stop.”

“Stop what?  _ I’m _ not doing anything here.  _ You’re _ the one that can’t get words out of your mouth like a-”

“ _ That _ . That is what I’m talking about, Dee. You never respect me, you never-”

Dee prickled. “ _ I _ never respect  _ you _ ?”

Virgil didn’t seem to notice. “Yes. Do you know what you’ve even done to me? I’m leaving. I don’t want any part of you or your friendship anymore. It’s hurting me and-”

Something seemed to snap inside Dee. Before, it was a game. Catch and release. Once he’d had his fun he’d let Virgil go, kick him to the side. But this was different. He didn’t  _ want _ Virgil to leave. At least not on his own terms. He wanted Virgil to  _ stay _ .

Dee threw Virgil against the lockers behind him, watching the emo crumple to the ground under impact. “You’re _not_ _allowed_ to _leave_ , Virgil.” Dee seethed cold venom. He waited for Virgil to pick himself up again, to try and maybe fight back. He knew that wouldn’t happen. “ _What_?! Lost all that _precious_ fight in you?!” Dee sneered, kicking the lockers next to the boy, making him shrink even more. He grabbed Virgil by the wrist and pulled him up. “ _Fight back_ -” And he stopped. Virgil’s sleeve fell down his arm a few inches, revealing a wrist covered in scars. Thick and thin, burn scars and others. Dee dropped Virgil. 

__ Dee wasn’t stupid. He knew what those were. He knew who’d caused them. And he knew what that meant he’d done.  _ Wait, no! No, no, no...No one was  _ actually  _ supposed to get hurt by this!! It..it was a game!  _

Dee began to slowly back away from Virgil as suddenly the full realization of what he must have done to Virgil hit him. He thought back to all the times Virgil left early from lunch, to hide himself away, of how he never saw the purple haired boy without a long sleeved shirt or hoodie. The dots starting to connect in his head, Dee tried to guess how many more scars lined his arms based on how many he had seen on just his one wrist.

The thought made him sick and he ran out a side door and into the open air. He rounded the corner and sunk down behind a row of bushes. Dee thought of everything he’d ever said to Virgil, now fully aware of the consequences. He thought of how many scars he must have contributed to making. He thought of what he’d done. He finally tried to grasp how wrong he was. Had he done this before? How many kids had he unknowingly marked up because of his words? Two? Four? Ten? 

With his thoughts to drown him, Dee thought of what a horrible person he must  _ really _ be. And he turned to the bushes where he was suddenly and violently sick.

~~*~~

Virgil wasn’t 100% sure what had just happened there, but he wasn’t entirely too upset by it. Dee wasn’t attacking him anymore, and he really wasn’t feeling up for trying his luck. He sat there for a moment before sprinting to the theater room.

“THOMAS I DID IT!!!” He yelled, bursting into the room.

Thomas nearly fell out of his chair cursing slightly. “If you mean you managed to scare the living daylight out of me I commend you on succeeding, holy  _ f u c k _ .”

Virgil dropped his backpack on the ground and jumped on top of one of the chairs strewn across the room. “I FUCKING DID IT!!!”

“Oh, looks like you got your backpack back…” Thomas said, peering over his desk. “Now what did you do that you’re so excited about?”

Virgil jumped off the chair, not quite sure why he felt so light and airy. “I STOOD UP TO DEE!!! And I’m  _ gone _ !!! Thomas, it’s  _ over _ !! I’m finally  _ free _ !!!”

Thomas looked the bubbling Virgil over and smiled widely. “I’m not 100% sure what you’re talking about, but I’m happy to see you back to your old self!!”

Virgil opened his mouth to start rambling on about Dee and how something feels different and better now, but as fate would have it, the bell interrupted him.

“I’ll catch ya later, Thomas, I gotta run and-” Virgil gasped dramatically, a thought dawning on him. “I HAVE TO GO TALK TO LOGAN!!!” Virgil sprinted out of the room. “BYE THOMAS!!”

Thomas gave the empty doorway a confused and fond smile. “Cya later too, bro!”

Virgil all but shot into the classroom, making eye contact with Logan almost immediately. He quietly picked his way around desks and over backpacks to the table in the back of the classroom where Logan sat at.

“Hey!” Virgil initiated, plopping himself down at the table. It was only then that Virgil realized he didn’t really have anything prepared to say to the tall number generator. He begged the universe to help him say the right thing as he opened his mouth. “Listen, I know we haven’t talked in... _ months _ , but I just wanted to say that I’m sorry and I missed you guys so much and I don’t really have a good explanation for why I left I just-”

Virgil didn’t have time to finish his anxious apology before Logan pulled him into a tight hug.

“I... _ we _ missed you too, Virgil...Welcome home.”

Virgil returned the hug, melting into the embrace. “I’m glad to be back, Lo.”

~~*~~

Roman was elated after Virgil distractedly spoke to him. When lunch rolled around, he all but launched himself at the table, ready to talk to his friends.

“GUYS GUYS GUESS WHAT!?!”

Patton, who was sitting on Logan’s lap, fell off when Logan jumped, however recovering quickly he shot up , a bright smile on his face revealing his new multicolored braces. “What?! What happened?!” He asked.

Roman beamed as he took a seat, leaning over the table. “I talked to Virgil today!! And he said that he wanted to see me later!!”

Patton became visibly brighter and Logan looked like he was ready to leap out of his chair and go find Virgil on his own.

“He wasn’t angry or upset?!” Patton asked, blue eyes sparkling.

Roman shook his head. “No!! He seemed a little distracted maybe, but he didn’t seem upset or angry or any-” Roman cut himself off as a bold pain flashed across his back. He hid it well though, continuing his smile. “Anything! He even called me Princey!!” Roman all but squealed with excitement, the heated joy flushing his face.

The rest of lunch was spent talking excitedly of what the group would do once Virgil was back, a conglomeration of ideas of sleepovers and movie nights, trips to the mall and parks, road trips and one mention of d&d by Logan (A topic that went on for a while.)

Finally the bell rang and the friends parted ways, promising to meet up after school.

Roman spent the entirety of his fifth period daydreaming of Virgil, his laugh, his smile, his snarky remarks, everything. He was all but vibrating with anticipation, waiting for the hour to end, waiting to finally see Virgil again- not as a stranger anymore- but as a dear and familiar friend.

Finally, the bell struck.

And Roman swears he’s never ran faster to a class in his life.

If you asked Thomas, he would tell you Roman would have broken the door if he crashed through any faster. Of course though, Roman was there before Virgil. So he was left waiting. First sitting on the floor, then leaning against the wall, then finally when Virgil  _ did _ come through the door, Roman was sitting upside down in a rolly chair.

“VIRGIL!!” Roman shouted, falling hard to the ground when he tried to get out of the chair. He ran up to the smaller emo and all but tackled him.

Virgil laughed delightedly and softly. “Bro, what the fuck?” He said, trying to hide his obvious smile and joy from the rest of the onlooking class.

Roman held on tighter to Virgil, emotions overcoming him. “I missed you, Storm Cloud…” He said softly.

Virgil gave Roman a quick and tight squeeze in return, ignoring the fact that being called Storm Cloud made his chest feel warm and bright. “I missed you too, Princey, but also everyone is looking and I’m starting to freak out…”

“Great job, you two!!” Thomas came out of his office, smiling widely. The pair separated from one another and looked confusedly at their teacher, who caught Virgil’s eye with a wink. “That was a  _ wonderful _ example of using the full range of emotions in a scene! Thank you for helping me with that seeing as  _ some  _ people are having a bit of trouble putting emotion into their scenes.”

The class seemed to start and Roman heard Virgil let out a breath beside him and he turned to the purple haired boy.

“Sorry, I just got a bit excited when you talked to me back in third and if you don’t really want to be here then-”

Virgil’s blue eyes went wide with panic. “NO!!” He nearly shouted the word, cutting Roman off. “No! I want to talk to you! I want to be here! I want to be here so badly! I’ll explain everything to you and everyone else later but-”

“We’re all going to Patton’s house after school! You can explain there if you want!”

Virgil was certain if Roman’s pure smile was any brighter, the sun would be jealous. Virgil gave a small smile back. “That sounds amazing, Princey!”

~~*~~

Patton barrelled into Virgil nearly the moment he saw the emo boy, trapping him in a hug filled with threats of everlasting kindness and promises of never letting him go again.

And Virgil, for the first time in a  _ very  _ long time, felt relaxed and anxiety free, happy and like himself.

The group walked to Patton’s small apartment house exchanging laughs and smiles, falling back into the rhythm of being in one another’s company once again.

Virgil and Roman broke into laughter when Patton made a joke, Logan sighing and shaking his head fondly. Logan and Roman got into a debate about which character from The Puffs was the best and Virgil and Patton laughed at the playfulness in their words. When Logan started nervously tapping the edge of his backpack, Patton asked what was wrong, to which Logan replied that he was just happy that they were all back together again.

And all too soon, they found themselves in Patton’s small living room, laughing endlessly about some stupid joke or story- it really didn’t matter.

Finally, Virgil worked up the courage to speak. “Hey guys, there’s actually a bunch of shit I think I need to tell you…”

“Yes, Virgil?” Logan addressed him from the couch. “Feel free to speak, but know that you have no need to explain anything. We’re just happy you’re back.”

“I know, Logan. But I really think you guys  _ should _ know.” Virgil took a deep breath, pulling the blanket up around him, his legs pulled up to his chest from where he sat on the floor, back up against the couch.

Patton lay on his stomach a few feet away from Virgil and Roman also had a seat on the couch, almost directly behind him.

Virgil stared at the floor, trying to gather his thoughts. “I...Something...Something  _ bad _ happened after I left...And that’s why I never came back…” Virgil felt a hand on his knee and looked over to Patton, the golden haired boy’s bright eyes shimmering with comfort and understanding that shouldn’t have been possible in any normal human, such a look convincing Virgil that his bright friend must be part fae. Virgil took another deep breath and began to explain everything.

Starting with how he had bumped into Dee and then how he had gotten Virgil to stay, explaining that he felt like he had to stay. He also, with much hesitation, explained the intense verbal abuse Dee had put him through. And finally, Virgil came to the end of his story with only one thing left unsaid, unexplained, unheard.

Roman stood up.

“Wait, Roman, where are you going?” Virgil asked, leaving what was unsaid rest at the back of his mind.

Roman didn’t even stop walking. “I’m gonna go kill me a bitch.” He said plainly.

Virgil shot up. “Wait wait wait!! You can’t do that-”

Roman turned on him, a fire ablaze in his bright green eyes. “And why can’t I, Virgil? He hurt you! And now he’s gonna pay. Logan, you coming?”

Logan rose from his seat and adjusted his glasses. “Gladly.”

Patton got up from the ground too. “Hold on!! Let’s think about this for a moment!”

Virgil let out a breath of air. “ _ Thank _ you, Patton-”

“We’re gonna need some kind of plan if we’re gonna make him suffer!!”

“ _ Noo _ …Listen, I’m touched you’re being protective and all, but he doesn’t deserve-”

“ _ He hurt you _ !” Roman seethed.

Virgil was so taken aback by the raw passion in his voice he almost forgot how to speak. “He did…” Virgil finally said. “He did hurt me. But what are you going to do about it? It’s all in the past now, I got out and I’m never going back.” He took a step forward towards his three friends. “I’m here and I’m okay and I’m where I belong. I don’t want you getting expelled because I made a stupid mistake and fell in with the wrong person. That’s my issue and none of yours.”

Patton stepped forward and took Virgil’s hands in his own. “Your issues are ours now, Virgil. You don’t have to carry the weight of the world on your shoulders anymore. That’s what family means.”

Virgil would like to say he took what Patton said in stride, nodding and saying alright. But that wouldn’t be the truth. The truth was, after thinking of everything, thinking of how long he had been trapped with Dee, how long it had been since he’d felt sincere love, he began to cry. Falling into Patton’s arms he let himself cry. Only for a few moments, but he let himself.

Pulling away, Virgil wiped at his eyes. He sat back down and gathered himself. “Thank you...But please, I don’t want anything to happen. I don’t want to kick up more drama between me and Dee.”

Roman huffed, crossing his arms, the fire in his eyes dulled down to simmering coals. “Fine. But I swear if he so much as  _ looks _ at you wrong- no if he even  _ thinks _ about you, I’m kicking his ass.”

Virgil let out a soft laugh as they all sat back down. “There’s…” He started, thinking of what he’d left to his mind. “There’s one last thing I want to tell you...And You might...You might hate me or stop being friends with me or-”

Logan placed a hand on Virgil’s shoulder, his firm grasp a comforting thing in the face of Virgil’s desperate anxiety. “We’re here for you, Virgil. We’re not going to leave.”

Virgil nodded and continued. “The reason I left in the first place...I got scared...Because well...You guys are all soulmates and I…” Virgil took another moment. The last person he had told had manipulated him and caused him so much harm he had nightmares. “And I don’t have any…”

The room was silent.

There was only about four seconds of silence.

But in those four seconds, Virgil concocted ten different ways his only friends would reject and scorn him for not having any soulmates.

“You don’t have any soulmates…?” Roman asked.

Virgil nodded, a knot beginning to form in his stomach.

"Man...you're pretty lucky!!" Roman said smiling.

"Wait what?" Roman's response had shocked Virgil out of his spiraling anxiety. "What do you mean, 'I'm lucky'?"

Patton piped up. "I mean this means you're not tied down to anyone! You're free to live happily with whoever you want! Be besties with whoever you want! You don't have to stress about looking for anyone either!!"

Logan adjusted his glasses again. "It is rather advantageous to be so free as to not have any soulmates. It means that you don't have to wonder with every friend if they're your soulbound soulmate or not. I once read in a 'A history of soulmarks by Rory Haerth' that before soulmates existed, people were never as highly stressed about finding a partner as they are now, so now you don't have to live with that extra stress."

Virgil looked around the room at his friends. All his life he'd been told that not having a soulmark was a bad thing- something to be ashamed of.

_ "Now, darling," Virgil's mother said, zipping up his coat for his first day of school. "What do we say when people ask about your soulmark?" _

_ "But mommy I don't have a soulmark." _

_ "I know, baby, but we don't want everyone to think you're a freak so you tell them that you're colorblind okay?" _

_ "Okay mommy…" _

Time after time after time. Virgil had always been told that it was an awful, freakish thing.

_ "Ew you don't have a soulmate? That's creepy…" _

_ "What's a Soulless freak like you gonna do about it?!" _

_ "No one can love someone without a soulmate. You know that right?" _

Never had he been told it was okay. That he wasn't an obscene monstrosity of a person for not having any soulmates.

"You...you don't think I'm a freak…?" Virgil asked, his voice hardly above a whisper.

Roman rose to his feet. "Of course not!! Why would you think that? Who told you that?" Virgil looked further down at the ground and Roman sat back down next to him, placing a hand over Virgil's though it was encased in his thick black and purple hoodie sleeve. "You're not a freak, Virgil. And anyone who's ever told you otherwise is wrong and horrible and will never be more than a lying, sniveling child that never learned how to grow up. They don’t, didn’t and will  _ never _ be deserving of you or your thoughts. You are probably the most compelling and human person I have ever met. So don’t let  _ anyone _ tell you  _ any _ different.”

Virgil stared into Roman’s eyes, trying to find even a hint of exaggeration or pity in those deep green spirals. He could have stayed there for longer than the existence of time, staring, searching for anything other than genuine and pure love and sincerity, and never once would Roman’s eyes change, the meaning of his words change.

And so Virgil looked away.

He turned to the others in the room, searching still for some ounce of falsehood, something that said they were lying,  _ anything _ that would prove that they were only doing this to make him feel better.

All Virgil was met with was raw kindness and love. It was so pure that Virgil couldn’t help but wonder why he had ever let himself lose something so wonderful and good.

Through teary eyes, Virgil sniffed slightly. “Hey, Pat? Can I just stay the night here? I just really don’t want to leave you guys again…”

Patton squeaked out a noise that was much akin to a noise someone would make when they saw a fluffy kitten. “I’ll tell my dads RIGHT AWAY!!!” And like that he sprinted up the stairs.

Logan and Roman also got up, pulling out their phones to call their parents to tell them about the change in plans. Virgil walked himself out onto the balcony where he dialed a number, listening to it ring.

_ “Hello?” _ The voice asked.

“Hey, Thomas! I just wanted to let someone know where I was. I’m spending the night at Patton Miles’ house.”

_ “Oh okay. That’s fine, but don’t you think you should call Deva?” _

Virgil shook his head out of habit. “No, I don’t think she’d be cool with me spending the night, but I really don’t want to go home right now.” Virgil said, looking up to the sky, watching the stars as they started to flicker into existence. “To be honest...I just don’t want to leave my friends right now. I’m afraid if I leave now, my brain will try and tell my they were lying to me and I’ll do something stupid. In any case, I don’t want mom knowing where I am. She might try and kidnap me in the middle of the night or something.” Virgil gave a small chuckle, but he was afraid there was truth to those words.

“Hey, Virge!! Come inside, we’re gonna watch Spirited Away!” Roman called from inside the apartment. Virgil turned to see Patton sprint back down stairs carrying a small mountain of blankets and pillows before crashing into Logan, causing the two to fall to the ground, blankets falling over the pair of blue eyed boys, causing both to become more blind than they already were.

_ “Is everything okay over there? I heard something crash?” _ Thomas asked from the other side of the phone.

“Yeah, everything is fine. Just a couple of loveable idiots being idiots. Listen, I’ll call you tomorrow to come pick me up, okay? I don’t want to have to call mom.”

_ “Alright, that’s fine with me, Vee. I’ll see you tomorrow then. Have fun!” _

“I will, bye!” Virgil ended, listening still at the phone for the beep at the end before finally heading back inside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there we go!! All caught up!!  
> Rereading this chapter gave me all the good feelies~  
> I'm in the middle of writing up chapter 17 (Technically 16 if you ignore the april fools chapter) and it should be ready to go up in a few weeks! I'm really excited for this new arc that I'm starting and I can't wait to share it with you all!!  
> Till then, stay Fresh and Minty, folks!


	17. Bittersweet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roman Prince and Logan Rose are soulmates. They’re platonic soulmates though. They both have the same Soul mark to prove it. But they both have one other soul mark, binding them to one other person. And when they find Patton Miles, it just so happens that they’re both his soulmates. Logan being his Soulbound Soulmate, and Roman being a platonic soulmate. But something feels missing. And it feels filled, shockingly so, when they meet a certain someone a year and a half after they found each other.

Dee locked himself in his room, trying to ignore everything that had happened that day. He couldn’t- he  _ wouldn't _ think about it.

But he did.

And he knew he would never be able to escape the nightmares now.

He crumpled to the ground, rubbing at his arms, wrists, hands, shoulders, trying not to remember those dark scar covered arms. He tried so hard to forget the dark brown eyes. He felt himself panicking and he curled in on himself as if he got small enough, his dark thoughts couldn’t find him.

“Janus? Honey, dinner is ready!” His mother’s muffled voice called him by his first name from somewhere in the house.

Dee tried to process.

_ Dinner. _

_ Food. _

_ A distraction? _

_ Perhaps… _

_ Food is good… _

_ Maybe I can forget… _

Dee stood up shakilly from the ground and took deep breaths. He couldn’t think about it. He wouldn’t think about it. He’d lied his way through his emotions for the past four years, and he wasn’t going to start telling the truth now. He pushed his thoughts down into the basement of his mind, far down. So deep he couldn’t see anything. And deep down in the basement of his mind, he shoved the troublesome thoughts into tiny glass jars. He covered the jars in black paint so he wouldn’t have to see them ever again.

And he ignored it when the jars all started to crack.

~~*~~

Virgil stirred in his sleep, his eyes blearily opening. He felt pressure on both sides of him and something warm wrapped around him. He felt safe. He felt nice…

It took Virgil only a moment more to realize that the pressure he was feeling was Logan and Patton, one on either side of him. They had fallen asleep leaning up against him, however their arms reached around him and met together on Virgil’s lap, the two hands clasped tightly together.

Drowsy, Virgil turned his head to the other side of Logan, looking over to where Roman had fallen asleep, his wavy brown hair resting messily in Logan’s lap. His legs were thrown over the arm of the sofa and half the blanket had fallen off him, dragging on the floor. Virgil would have liked to replace the fabric, but he remained trapped between his two other friends.

Virgil smiled fondly at his friends. It was like nothing had changed. They hadn’t been friends for long before Virgil left, but it seemed like they had all known one another since the beginning of time.

Virgil relaxed back into the softness of the blanket and felt himself slowly slipping off into sleep again. He leaned against Patton and remembered someone mumbling, “Go back to sleep...We’re all here…” Before a calm sleep took him over once more.

~~*~~

Dee doesn’t remember when he had fallen asleep. The last thing he could recall was panicking on the floor of his room. He guesses that made sense though, seeing as he woke up on his floor.

What had even woken him up? Was it-

_ Buzz! Buzz! Buzz! _

Dee looked down at his hand. He held his phone in the dark room, the surface flashing a familiar name across the screen. Remus was calling him. Why? Why would Remus call him?

Dee answered and put the phone to his ear. “Hello…?” God...His voice sounded awful in his own ears, raspy and choked, like he had a nasty cold. His throat hurt when he spoke. Maybe he did have a cold…

“Dee? That you?” Remus’s voice sounded uncharacteristically worried. Why would he be worried about  _ Dee _ ?

“Yeah...why did you call me?” He asked, his emotions shot to bits, he wasn’t able to hide how empty he felt.  _ I’m not someone you should care about. I’m a horrible person who deserves to die alone for the awful things I’ve done. _

“Thank  _ god _ ! I’ve been trying to get ahold of you for the past three hours!!”

Dee stopped and looked at his phone in confusion. He placed it back against his ear. “You have?”  _ Why? _ He didn’t say.

“Well duh! After what you texted me I got as worried as someone convicted for a murder they can’t remember they commited!!”

Dee forced a chuckle down at the strange comparison and tried to focus on what he had actually said. “Texted? Did I text you? I don’t remember that…”

Remus paused on the other side of the phone. He paused for so long Dee got worried the call got cut off.

“Re? You still there?” Dee tried to sound like he didn’t care. But he really didn’t want Remus to go. He wanted him to stay with him so badly. He didn’t even know why.  _ You know why, you fool. _

Remus finally answered. “Hey, I’m gonna come over alright? I’m worried about you and I think we should talk.”

Dee’s heart fluttered in it’s cage of bone. Dee hated feeling things. It was so annoying. “Wait I don’t-”

“Too late I already have my skates on!” Remus sang.

“Wait Remus I don’t need any help-” Dee caught his words as he heard the other line beeping. “...Damn.”

Dee got up off his floor and crossed over to his bed. He tried to calm his beating heart, painfully aware of his own feelings. He could lie to anyone flawlessly. Everyone but himself.

~~*~~

Roman didn’t remember why, but he fazed into the waking world only for a moment to say something to someone before he drifted off again. He woke up once more, the sun of the day just barely beginning to filter through the window blinds.

Beside him- or he guesses above him- Logan was fast asleep against Virgil. Roman’s chest glowed as he looked at the purpled haired boy, pressed up on either side by his friends. Roman was so excruciatingly happy that Virgil was finally back, it was something he didn’t realize he needed as much as he did. 

Roman got up and fixed the blanket that was starting to fall off of Patton, moving to the kitchen. He had originally just gone for a glass of water, but as Roman glanced back over at his sleeping friends, an idea came to his mind. And oh did he like it despite the fact he knew he would fail.

And it is because of this great and wonderfully unplanned idea that Patton was awoken by Roman floundering and fumbling around, pots and pans clattering  _ just _ loud enough to wake up the light sleeper that Patton was.

Patton carefully detangled himself from his friends, gently pushing Virgil’s head over to Logan. “Roman? Whatcha doin, kiddo?” He picked up a discarded blanket off the ground and wrapped it around his shoulders, squinting at Roman’s blurry figure.

Roman tried to hide the pan he held in his hands behind his back, not wanting to ruin the surprise he had planned. “Oh! Nothing much! Just getting a glass of water, padre!”

Patton went over to the counter where his and Logan’s glasses sat. Once the round frames were resting on his face Patton smiled tiredly at Roman. “Oh, Roman!” He crossed over to pat the tall boy on the head. “You were gonna make us breakfast, weren’t you?” His tired and loopy smile made Roman giggle in his own slightly drowsy state.

Roman, defeated, let his hand drop to his side, no longer attempting to hide the pan he was holding. “You caught me, Padre! I wanted to do something special for you, but I suppose I’m louder than I think I am…” Roman rubbed the back of his neck.

Patton seemed to be starting to wake up a little more as he perked up, an idea clear in his eyes. “Hey! What if…” He wiggled a bit in his excitement, the blanket wrapped around him making the small boy look like a dancing burrito. “We make breakfast together!! We have some lemon blueberry muffin mix in the cupboard!!” His pale blue eyes shone and there was truly no way Roman could deny such an adorable blanket-burrito-Patton.

Roman smiled. “Let’s do it, Pat!!” As he started to turn around again, he paused and turned back, a serious look in his eyes. “But we listen to  _ my _ music!”

~~*~~

By the time Remus got to the house, the sky had started turning a dark blue- a sign the sun would be up in the next hour or so.

Dee watched the tall boy walk up to the door, pulling it open before Remus had the time to knock. “Go home, Remus! I told you I’m fine!” Dee hissed.

Remus had on a ripped army green shirt and jeans with grass stains on the knees. It was a much more ‘normal’ outfit than Dee was used to, but it didn’t matter.

Dee tried to close the door, but Remus caught it and cocked an eyebrow at him. “ _ Did _ you say that?” He faked a thoughtful expression. “I think I recall not being able to get ahold of you for three hours and then I remember you finally picked up and sounded like shit after not remembering what you texted me.” Remus gently pushed himself past Dee. “I think that merits me breaking into your house!”

Dee rolled his eyes and closed the door. “You’re not ‘Breaking in’ I’m  _ letting _ you in, idiot.”

Remus turned, skates in his hands, his mismatched green and red socks showing. “See! You even admit to letting me in!” 

Dee huffed, leading Remus into the livingroom. “Whatever I texted you  _ can’t  _ have been as important as you’re making out to be, darling.” Remus sat down and suddenly Dee re-remembered what had happened the day prior. He found himself having to silently calm his heart from pounding, stopping himself from hyperventilating. “Can’t have been…” He breathed out, a sound only meant to be for himself, but in the silent house it reached Remus’s ears.

Remus patted the space next to him and watched as Dee sat down. He stopped for a moment, the quiet of the house surrounding the two boys. “Did you try and look at the text before I came?” Dee nodded silently, looking down at the ground. “You deleted it before you could remember, didn’t you?”

Dee shrugged his shoulders despondently. “I suppose...I couldn’t find it so I assume that’s what happened…”

Remus sighed and hung his head in an almost defeated way. It was clear he was more tired than anything though. How Dee knew that, he couldn’t guess. “It wasn’t long, but it was very unlike you. It really got me worried.” He looked over at Dee, an amount of emotion in his green eyes that Dee hadn’t ever seen before. “I still am.”

Dee sat silently as he watched Remus pull out his phone, unlocking it and tossing it over to him.

The screen was open to a text conversation. It read ‘DeeDee’ at the top. The last two texts were from Remus, thirty minutes apart.

_ What? Dee what does that mean? 2:32 AM _

_ Dee you better answer soon or else i’m gonna call you 2:58 AM _

The third text up was from Dee. It sent small shivers up his spine when he read it.

_ I wish I could take it all back. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean for any of this. _

“You can see now why I was worried. Right?” Remus said. His voice was low and Dee had never known him to be so quiet.

Dee lowered his head, his heart pounding again. “I-I’m fine now though. I don’t know what I was talking about, it’s probably not even impo-”

“You keep saying that,” Remus sat up, staring at the ceiling. “But I have a feeling you’re lying to me, DeeDee.” Even though he was being serious, Remus seemed relaxed as ever. He suddenly jumped to his feet. “Now! While you’re busy working up the courage to tell me what in high hell is wrong, you got any cereal?”

~~*~~

Roman and Patton quietly made breakfast, all the while moving along to Cavetown playing softly from Roman’s phone. They had to stifle laughter from one another as they made faces and jokes.

Roman had started lip syncing to Sweet Tooth, theatrically gesturing to Patton, making him giggle.

_ “I have a sweet tooth! For you! I’m wide awake!” _ Roman spun, pointing at Patton and making a dramatic face.

_ “The sugar went straight to my brain!” _ Patton quietly bounced and danced alongside Roman.

_ “Feel like a kid, I double tap!! My chest with my fist!” _ Roman spun Patton silently around, putting a finger over his own lips to try and shush him when Patton started to softly giggle.

_ “I like you…” _ Roman pointed dramatically at Patton, who pretended to look shocked. Though Roman’s gaze flickered over to the couch where he could see Virgil resting peacefully next to Logan.  _ “Say it back.” _ Roman shook his head mentally and smiled back at Patton, who had been having too much silent fun to notice.

Soon, breakfast was starting to finish up.

“Patton, the muffins are about to go off!! I can’t get to them right now!” Roman hissed to the golden haired boy from across the small kitchen.

“I got it!!” Patton reached the oven right before the timer started to loudly announce itself.

They managed to quietly prepare a breakfast consisting of almost-burned-but-not-quite-burned lemon blueberry muffins, average scrambled eggs, and slightly charred bacon.

While both of them  _ could _ cook, neither would ever claim to be a  _ good _ cook.

By the time everything was all done, it was 8:30 in the morning and the sun was clearly out.

Roman set the table while Patton went to wake up the other two on the couch.

“Wha..? What…? Patton??” Virgil blearily asked when the blue eyed boy gently shook him.

Patton smiled. “That’s me, kiddo! Good ol’ Pat-Pat!”

Logan stirred. “Mmhm...that’s  _ my _ Pat-Pat,  _ Virgil _ …” He muttered, still mostly asleep. “You cannot have him…”

Patton and Virgil started laughing, waking Logan up more. “Don’t worry, Logan! I’m not gonna steal your boyfriend. He’s all yours.” Virgil got up off the couch, leaving Patton to try and get the half blind boy off the sofa. “Hey, Ro. What’s this?” He asked, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

Roman dramatically gestured at the food on the table. “I have prepared a feast in honor of your return, O great Virgil!!” Roman paused and stood up straighter, smiling. “Patton helped too!”

Virgil snorted at the theatrics. “Thanks, Princey! You and Pat didn’t have to, you know.”

Patton skipped over with Logan. “Nonsense, Virgil! We wanted to do something super coolio bro move nice for you guys! And it was fun, too!” He giggled.

Virgil smiled. “Well thanks, you guys. I missed you…”

Patton tackled Virgil in a bear hug. “We missed you too, Virge!!”

And together they sat down and began eating and chatting about this and that, relaxing for the first time in months. It felt right. It felt like home.

_ That’s right… _ Roman thought, looking around at his friends.  _ We’re home now. _

~~*~~

While Remus made and began eating his concoction of cereal, Dee went upstairs and told his mother that Remus was over.

“At  _ this _ hour, Janus?  _ Really _ ?” His mother sighed tiredly.

Dee nodded. “I know, I know. We’ll be out of the house in a few hours, but if you come downstairs,  _ please _ call me Dee!”

His mother let out a breath and let her head fall back onto the pillow. “Yeah, alright honey...Just make sure you don’t burn the house down…”

On his way down the stairs, Dee stopped. He wasn’t sure he was ready to tell Remus about what had happened. So instead he sat down on the stairs and thought.

What was he even going to tell him?  _ Oh yeah I have this horrible unspoken trauma that I’ve repressed for years and I saw Virgil’s scars and got so triggered by them I threw up in a bush. _ There was no way he could just  _ say _ something like that. And even if he did, there would be so much more he’d have to talk about. Things he would rather just forget. Maybe Dee could just forget Virgil too…

He thought of the raw worried emotion in Remus’s eyes.

_ No. He deserves  _ something _. Maybe it’s time I finally talked some shit out...as  _ awful _ as talking sounds… _

Of course, though, while he had made up his  _ mind _ , Dee’s  _ body _ refused to move from it’s spot on the stairs. This is why he hated emotions. They were messy and messed with your head and they felt  _ awful _ . He’d have rather just pushed all emotion down, but he guesses he knew he’d have to face them sometime.

While Dee panicked on the stairs, Remus had finished with his cereal collage and had creeped around the corner to the stairs. Dee was too occupied by his thoughts to notice when Remus climbed the steps and sat a few steps down from him.

“Ya know, you don’t gotta talk.” Remus said after a few seconds.

Dee looked up, his amber eyes wide with different emotions. “What?”

“You don’t have to tell me anything if you don’t want to. I’d love to help, but if you don’t wanna that’s all good with me, Dee.”

Dee paused for a moment. “...Why do you want to help…” He asked softly.

“Whatcha mean, Snakes?”

“You don’t care about anyone except your brother, why would you start caring about someone like me?”

Remus paused and Dee thought he’d won. Then the tall boy stood up and walked up the few steps to sit next to Dee. “I want to help you because you’re my friend, dumbass.” Dee turned and looked at Remus. “Believe it or not, we’re partners in crime. Whatever dumb shit you dig yourself into, I’m gonna have a ladder for you. And satan knows that you’ve got me out of a whole fuck ton of dumb things.”

Dee was quiet. He didn’t really know what to think of anything Remus was saying. It made him feel warm. He knew that he hadn’t told Remus a lot of things, but for the longest time he thought that Remus also had his fair share of secrets. Dee was starting to think the green eyed boy didn’t have anything he hid. 

“And while I know it must be  _ shocking _ ,” Remus turned to look at Dee, his green eyes soft and kind. “I  _ do _ care about you.” He placed a soft hand atop Dee’s before continuing. “Just cause I don’t care bout most people doesn’t mean I’m incapable of love.” He picked up the small hand and kissed it softly. 

Dee’s face lit up so bright he was sure there must have been something wrong. His face burned and his heart fluttered, his chest felt airy and warm. He must be getting sick. That was what this horribly amazing feeling was, right? Some weird fever…

Remus threw Dee into a headlock and gave him a hard noogie. “So don’t go thinking I don’t care about you, douche-bitch!!”

That was it. The moment was completely gone. Dee scoffed. “Fine!” He laughed. It was small and short, but it was a real one. “I believe you, Ree! Now get off me!!”

Remus let him go and smiled a toothy grin at him. It was bright and genuine. “Let’s get you some self-care, DeeDee!”

Dee smiled. “I do  _ hate _ it when you call me that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm shocked I was able to pump out this chapter so quickly! But I'm glad nonetheless!!  
> I actually had a bunch of fun writing this chapter! I really wanted to write some cute interactions between Roman and Patton to get that good sweet platonic royality in there~  
> Anyway, I have no idea when the next chapter will be out, so until then, Stay Fresh and Minty, friends!!


	18. Painting A Person

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roman Prince and Logan Rose are soulmates. They’re platonic soulmates though. They both have the same Soul mark to prove it. But they both have one other soul mark, binding them to one other person. And when they find Patton Miles, it just so happens that they’re both his soulmates. Logan being his Soulbound Soulmate, and Roman being a platonic soulmate. But something feels missing. And it feels filled, shockingly so, when they meet a certain someone a year and a half after they found each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note: This chapter is all about paintball, and as such there is a LOT of talk about guns, so do be aware of that. Thank you for reading Soulbound!!

A month had passed and the weather was starting to warm up a bit.

Virgil hadn’t had any contact with Dee since that day, and the short boy had been absent from his first class of the day the following two weeks. And while Virgil would have liked to say he was even a little concerned, he wasn’t. Not in the slightest.

But Virgil was better than ever. Today, him and his friends were lying in the grass on a particularly sunny and warm day for it being April. Remy and Emile had joined them on this particular day, the two acting somewhat as parents to the group of friends.

It was a particularly slow day as well. Not painful or irritatingly slow, just...slow.

Suddenly Remy spoke up. “Hey y’all wanna go paintballing next Thursday?”

There was a short lived moment of quiet as everyone woke their brains up. There was a murmur of agreement and that seemed to settle things as they all fell quiet again, drinking in the warm beams of sun that they all knew would be gone in a few days.

~~*~~

What they had all agreed to caught up a few days later when paintballing was only a few days away.

“Wait, Rem, so what exactly is happening on thursday??” Virgil asked nervously, Logan and Roman trailing behind and talking to Emile. Virgil had come up to the seniors after school ended to try and talk to Remy about what paintball entailed.

Remy took a sip from his starbucks cup. “Oh, I just, like, had a free family pass to this, like, super rad paintballing place. It’s good for six players so I thought y’all would like some fun or some shit like that. And I was like, ‘well there’s no school thursday so like what the hell’ Right?”

Virgil relaxed slightly. “Okay, but what time is it? Where? Should I get my own ride or are we meeting somewhere first? What do I-”

Remy placed a finger over Virgil’s lips, effectively hushing him. “Darlin,” He took another sip of his drink. “Chill the fuck out, m’kay? I’ll come by and pick y’all up around noon, don’t worry baby cakes. All you gotta do is remember to wear something you don’t mind getting a little splitter-splatter-tie-dyed.”

Virgil must have looked like he’d seen a ghost because Roman chuckled behind him. “Aww, don’t have any clothes to paint, Emo-Nightmare? “ He bumped his fist lightly against Virgil’s shoulder. “Don’t worry- I got a plain hoodie that’s a bit small for me you can wear.”

Virgil relaxed. “Thanks, Princey.”

The rest of the day went smoothly, Virgil ditching back to Logan’s place to study.

At least it was going well until they all got a text from Emile in the group chat.

_ Team Mom #1 (Emile): Hey guys I got some less than awesome news. I’ve got the flu. I don’t think I can make it to paintballing _

_ Team Mom #2 (Remy): Awh baabbbeeee...Are you doing alright? _

_ Pat-man (Patton): Oh no!!!!!  _

_ Pat-Man (Patton): Em that’s not very good!!!!! Want me to bring you over some soup or something????? _

_ Team Mom #1 (Emile): No, I’ll be just fine with a bit of rest! Sorry guys :/ _

Roman left his own get well message before closing the chat, contemplating the paintball match that was coming up.

It would be all fine, probably. But now they had uneven numbers and Remus had been acting weird lately and probably wouldn’t want to come.

Roman decided not to think about it, instead opting to plan what him and Virgil would do for paintball. I mean, of  _ course _ they were gonna be on the same team. If they just did that...then they could shoot that and then…

As Roman planned, his mind drifted off into a calm slumber consumed by pretty blue eyes and black hair.

~~*~~

The day of paintball came and Roman got picked up at noon before they picked up Virgil.

He was surprised as he climbed into the car, greeted by an unfamiliar face sitting in the back. They had dark fluffy hair that was cut in a short bob with two strands on the sides hanging longer than the rest of the cut. It reminded him a bit of Ramona Flower’s hair. Their dark, earth green eyes were big and stood out around their chocolate skin. They wore a pair of baggy camo pants and boots that seemed to be a shade of deep red. Their too-large varsity jacket was draped over a light grey shirt, a long necklace with a few charms and a dog tag hanging around their petite neck. Objectively, they were quite cute.

“Oh. And who’s this charming fellow?” He asked, climbing into the seat in front of the stranger.

“Oh, that’s Fenn.” Remy said, pulling away from Roman’s house. “I, like, totes forgot to tell you guys I was bringing them. I’ve known them for a few years now- they’re like the coolest kid ever, I promise hun. Fenn ain’t no boring bitch.”

Roman turned in his seat and smiled brightly at the small kid in the back. “Well nice to meet you, Fenn! I’m Roman!”

“I’m happy to meet you, Roman!” They said in a small and happy voice, a light giggle gracing the end. There was something about the laugh that Roman couldn’t quite place. It sounded almost devious to his ears.

Soon they were back on the road to pick up their other dark haired friend.

“Wait, why are we going to the school?” Patton asked as they passed a particularly familiar tree- one that had large twisting knots and long tangled limbs.

“Vee-Vee said we could pick ‘em up here. Somethin ‘bout rules or some shit I can’t remember.” Remy replied, keeping his eyes on the road.

“Hm. I suppose that makes some sort of sense.” Logan said. “Virgil has mentioned to me about his strict house rules a few times.”

“Yeah, it was something like that.” Remy said, pulling into the school parking lot, a familiar black haired boy standing close by. As they neared, Remy rolled down the window. “HEY GURL GET IN HERE WE’RE GOING PAINTBALLING BITCHESSS!!”

Everyone in the car seemed to have an exasperated response and Virgil came up to the borrowed van.

“Hey guys,” Virgil smiled, climbing in, Roman moving into the back to make room for the smaller boy. “Oh.” Virgil caught Fenn’s eye and seemed to startle. “Hello.” he said flatly. To be honest he hadn’t been counting on meeting anyone new during this trip.

The introduction process was revisited and as soon as they got settled again, Roman tossed Virgil a plain white hoodie, the fabric landing in the middle of the boy’s face.

“There ya go, Virge!” Roman flashed a mischievous grin at his friend. “Armor for the defenceless!”

Virgil rolled his eyes and pulled the sweater over his plain black long-sleeved shirt. “Well aren’t  _ you _ just a  _ gentleman _ !”

The trip to the site was enjoyable, filled with chatter and jokes and singing (Mostly from Roman) Though Fenn remained all but silent the entire time.

_ Are they just shy? _ Roman thought as they all entered the building.  _ Doesn’t matter. Me and Virgil will totally destroy them once the match starts! _ He thought delightfully as they all entered their names into a machine and walked into the instruction room.  _ They seem perfectly nice, but alas...No survivors!! _ He glanced over at Virgil, a smile gracing his lips.  _ I can’t wait until me and- _

“Alright, paintballers- your teams have been picked in random teams of two!” The instructor said. “You’ll find your teams up on the board right here.” A few names flickered onto the screen that previously had instructions on it.

_ Remy & Logan _

_ Patton & Virgil _

Roman could almost taste the disappointment in his own mouth. It was bitter and left his mouth feeling like he’d just swallowed a mouthful of dirt.

_ And that means…  _

“...oh…” Roman heard Fenn very softly whisper next to him.

He turned and did his best to look charming. “Looks like it’s just you and me, Fenn!” He held his hand out to them in his best show of comradery

After a moment of looking lost, the short person smiled back, a fire of determination in their green eyes. “Alright!!” they grabbed Roman’s hand tightly and pulled him forward a bit, bringing Roman down to their eye level. “Let’s fucking  _ destroy _ them, Roman!!” Their low and excited words instantly dispelled any disappointment Roman had previously been feeling as Fenn’s playful intensity filled him.

~~*~~

They were sent to different corners of the battlefield and were given fifteen minutes of prep.

Roman realized that Fenn had been paintballing  _ many _ times. They asked Roman about his friends in great detail, specifically their weaknesses. They both plotted together, planning the inevitable and joyous demise of their friends.

“Remy knows that I’m a good player, so we’ll have to look out for his team...He’ll most likely be planning a strategy against us in particular, and-” Fenn continued, having pulled out a map of the entire battlefield. Soon, the two had a plan.

The kind of field it was had ammo dumps and extra guns scattered around it, so as soon as the siren sounded for the battle to start, Roman and Fenn bolted in opposite directions.

Fenn’s plan was to first grab the best guns lying around.

“-Everyone thinks the best gun is at center, but that’s never true.” They had explained to Roman. “It’s most frequently either in the sewer tunnel, up in the big tree, or the abandoned shed on the west side of the field. However it is a bit random.” They pointed to the sewer tunnel on the map. “That’s furthest away from our spot so I’ll head around the border here,” They slid their finger around the border of the map, passing through the big tree they had drawn. “And I’ll check the big tree on my way. You can go to the shed first, even if the gun isn’t there, there’s still going to be extra ammo there.” Finally they pointed to a spot on the map. “And we’ll rendezvous here.”

Roman looked up at Fenn. “Are you sure?!”

Fenn smirked at Roman, mischievous glee written across their face. “Oh I’m  _ sure _ .”

The siren sounded and off they went, sprinting in different directions- Roman going west and Fenn running north.

He picked up a few other guns on his way, discarding his dinky starting pistol for better guns. His heart rate rose when he heard shots sound in the distance.  _ Did Fenn get hit? No...They’re too good at this… _ Roman thought, continuing on this careful sprint to the shed.

He suddenly stopped, heart pounding.  _ He heard something. _ The world was silent around him as he scanned the surrounding area. A twig snapped behind him and Roman spun, pulling his trigger and ducking down, trying to avoid being shot at.

Whatever had made the twig crack doged behind a road divider, Roman’s yellow bullets painting the grass the color of too-bright flowers. Quickly Roman thought of a plan and rolled behind the divider, opposite of who he had shot at. He pressed himself as close to the divider as he possibly could, keeping himself low.

The person on the other side stood up and shot into nothingness, and then they stopped.  _ Yes!!  _ Roman thought through his racing heart.  _ It’s working! _ The person leaned forward over the divider, trying to catch a glimpse of someone who wasn’t there.

And as they leaned forward, Roman took his shot.

Logan froze. He touched his shoulder. It came back a bright blue. He had been shot. He looked slowly down at Roman who lay on the grass, pressed up against the road divider and invisible to anyone who was on the other side of the divider.

Roman smiled at his friend, paint gun in hand and exhilaration in his eyes. “Hey, Lo!”

Logan stared at his friend, an unreadable expression upon his face. And with a monotone voice, Logan opened his mouth. “You bitch.”

They exchanged a few words after that before parting ways, Logan heading to the front to gate to hand in his gun.

Roman reached the abandoned shed and cautiously looked inside. It seemed empty, but Roman checked the perimeter just to be sure. Once he was positive no enemies were laying in wait for him, he entered the shed. Inside there were boxes of ammo and a few nice guns, nicer than the ones that Roman had on him at the moment, as well as a tiny pistol that could hold only three shots. He grabbed two of the better guns, discarding his old ones, and placed the small pistol into his pocket. He grabbed handfuls of ammo and shoved them into his pockets, filling them, taking one other full box of ammo with him. After he was sure the coast was clear, he slipped out of the shed.

But right before he left, something caught his eye. On one wall there was something written. Marks placed side by side, like pillars, the words “Games” Written above the marks. If Roman had to give a rough guess, there were about 50, maybe 60 marks on the wall, and the ones near the top seemed to be many years old.

Of course he didn’t have much time to spare, so Roman bid the wall goodbye and ran to the rendezvous point.

~~*~~

The point that Fenn had picked wasn’t exactly the kind of place Roman would have thought of. It was a big block of those metal cargo crates with no clear hiding spots.

As Roman neared the crates, his heart rate rose again. If anyone saw him, he was done for. As such, he nearly screamed when Fenn’s voice seemed to materialize behind him.

“Great! You’re here already!” They said, a large assault rifle slung over one shoulder, an enormous sniper in their arms, and a regular pistol in their hand. Roman saw at least two more pistols on their belt and ammo spilling out of their pockets.

Roman settled his heart and smiled back at the shorter person. “Yep! It looks like you found some nice guns…”

Fenn smiled wide and bright, a smile that radiated good energy. It reminded Roman of Patton’s smile, though if smiles had colors to them, Patton’s would be blue and Fenn’s would be a blinding yellow- full of pure joy. “Yep!!” They nodded. “Now come on, before we’re seen!” They beckoned and led Roman around the crates before stopping at a few sheets of scrap metal leaned up against the large boxes.

Fenn handed Roman their sniper and the pistol in their hand. “Hold this for sec…” The said, starting to move the sheets. “I play a lot of paintball, and like a year ago I discovered a hole in these crates,” They explained, beginning to move the smallest scraps. “It was hard to find, but it was a  _ total _ game changer for me. I mean-” They grunted as they shoved the biggest sheet, one that went up to the top of the boxes. “Now I had a place to hide-  _ ow _ !! Fuck!” They recoiled from the metal and shook out their hand. They pushed it the rest of the way with their boot and took their guns back from Roman. “I present to you! Fort June!” They bowed, gesturing to the hole in the side of the crate.

Roman entered the small hole and into the dark interior of the crate. In fact, he could barely see anything, the only reason he wasn’t completely blind being the light filtering through the tiny hole he had come through, which Fenn was now trying to pull her too-large guns through.

“This is actually really cool, Fenn…” Roman said. “Though I really can’t see-” Roman spoke too soon as Fenn began to drag the large sheet of metal back into place, killing their light source. “Wait, But if you do that, then-” Roman began to protest. But it was too late. They were plunged into pure black. “-We can’t...see…” He sighed and felt himself become unsteady on his feet.

Fenn spoke up. “Oh don’t worry! As long as you’re not afraid of the dark you’ll be fine!” Fenn seemed to walk right into Roman, knocking them both over. “Oh, sorry! Sorry, just give me a second here- I got a light…”

Soon the small, damp crate was illuminated with a tiny flashlight Fenn had on hand. Now that there was more light, Roman could really see the inside of the crate. There was graffiti of all sorts covering it as well as a cryptic message on the far wall. Fenn had to hold the flashlight in their mouth as they crossed over to another wall. This one had another hole in it, covered with another metal sheet from the outside.

Instead of moving it like they had done with the other one, Fenn kicked the sheet sending a loud warbling metallic sound ricocheting through the air. As it fell to the ground, Fenn turned and smiled at Roman, a dopey grin that was made even more ridiculous by the flashlight in their mouth.

What happened was that there was a big open space in the middle of the clump of crates and someone had made holes in the crate, one small one on the outside and a bigger one on the inside. It was the perfect hideout for them.

They settled down in the small little base that Fenn had made their own and began to talk. At first they talked about the plan, then other things. Roman discovered that Fenn was one of the sweetest and most interesting people he’d met outside of his soulmates and Virgil. They were reckless and friendly, but Roman also saw a soft, sad, loneliness in their eyes as they spoke. They were passionate, and wanted to be more than they were, they were adorable and so extremely genuine. He wished he could make that loneliness go away.

All too soon, Their chat came to a stop as Fenn’s watch beeped softly. “Oh! Looks like it’s time now!” They moved various boxes and clambered onto the top of the tall crates, Roman following close behind his new friend.

The plan was to wait for a long while for the other two teams to destroy one another then swoop in and deal with the stragglers.

Fenn stood up on the crate and scanned the area. They smiled over at Roman, satisfied with themself. “It looks like we’re all cle-”

Roman only just barely saw Remy come out from behind a bush. There was only enough time to tackle Fenn over and yell, “ _ Look out _ !!”

A shot flew past them, barely missing the pair as they tumbled hard to the metal surface of the crate. Quick as possible, they came off the top and into their little clearing. In the center of the crates. Without a sound they exchanged a serious look, their hearts racing and adrenaline flashing in their eyes.

Roman grabbed the assault rifle off the ground and moved the metal sheet, slipping inside the crate. Carefully, he slid the other sheet out of the way, peaking out to make sure the coast was clear. He pulled himself out of the crate silently, the rifle held close to his body. Remy was alive so that meant that Virgil and Patton were out of the game. So why did he have a bad feeling about this?

Roman took a step to the side and in an instant, a splattering of green paint hit the crate where he had been only moments before. Roman whipped around and saw golden hair disappear from behind a bush.without hesitating, Roman dropped the rifle and dove forward, rolling on his shoulder like his theater teacher had taught him. He pulled out two pistols and shot at the bush.

“Hey, hey!!” Patton’s voice came. The blue eyed boy rose up, four splatters of blue and pink paint on his body. “You got me! Good job by the way! I totally thought I was super well hidden but then you came out of nowhere like  _ whaaAAaaaAa _ !!” Patton said with theatrics. There was something about the way he was acting that seemed off.

Roman sighed and lowered his guns. “You ended up escaping Remy then?”

Patton cocked his head, a too wide grin plastered on his face. “You could say that…”

Something was off and Roman couldn’t quite place it. His heart was racing and his instincts were going crazy. But he had one last thing he needed to make sure of. “Where’s Virgil?”

Roman heard something cock behind him. “Hey, Princey~”

The words sent shivers racing down Roman’s spine and made his chest flutter with...panic. It was panic. Roman was panicked cause he was caught, there was no other explanation for that fluttering.

Patton got up and started walking toward the gate, leaving Roman and Virgil alone.

Roman tried to calm his beating heart, though he was sure Virgil could hear it, even from where he was standing. “Hey, Vee!” He said, standing as casually as he could, guns still in hand. “How you doing?”

Virgil gave a low chuckle and the sound lingered in Roman’s ear. “I’m doing just fine, thanks. Now drop your guns and kick them away, Princey.” Roman did as he was instructed. “Now turn around.” Roman turned around and faced the shorter boy.

Virgil’s face was alive with smug delight, his black hair tousled by combat and his once white hoodie now smudged with dirt. A single twig stuck out of the hood, peeking out over his shoulder. And aimed directly at Roman’s chest, Virgil had a pistol leveled, ready to shoot. Cute as ever, Roman smiled at his friend.

Virgil smirked, eyes gleaming with confident joy. “Now put your hands up, m’kay?” Something told Roman Virgil was enjoying this a bit too much. The thought that his friend was so lost in the euphoria of the destruction of his friends made Roman chuckle. “What’s so funny, Princey?”

Roman shrugged, his hands held up in defence. “Oh nothing, scarecrow…” He dared to let his gaze slide to the branch in his hood, and slowly, slowly, reached his hand out. Virgil’s eyes stayed locked onto Roman’s as the taller boy pulled the stick free, turning it in his hand. “Will you  _ leaf _ me be now?” Roman couldn’t hide his playful smile as he tossed the stick away.

From behind Virgil, Roman saw Remy walking away towards the main gate, Fenn atop the cargo crates, waving at him. He saw them smile brightly and give them a thumbs up.

Roman smiled. “Right…” He sighed out, knowing exactly what to do.

What happened next was quicker than anything else Roman had ever experienced.

Like lightning, Roman’s hand flew to his pocket with the tiny pistol, his other hand grabbing Virgil by the shoulder, pulling him closer, Roman’s arm crossing over the shorter boy’s back in an odd sort of hug so Virgil couldn’t pull away. The hand that held the pistol pressed the barrel into the blue eyed boy’s stomach and he pulled the trigger.

At the same time, Virgil’s eyes went wide with panic and shock as he tried to pull away, held back by Roman’s arm. His finger synchronically pulling the trigger of his pistol, but not fast enough to guarantee his own safety.

They stood there, silent for a moment. Stunned and imoble, Virgil could hardly even comprehend what had just happened.

Roman, his head already next to Virgil’s, let out a breath. “Gotcha, Stormcloud.”

The entire exchange was less than a fraction of a second.

Roman backed off and Virgil looked down at the purple splatter on the white hoodie, the color standing out and still wet. Roman himself sported his own red splotch on his chest.

Virgil sputtered. “B-but-  _ what _ ?! H-how- wh-what??!”

Roman stood proud, his smug grin confusing Virgil even further. “I win, this time Virgil McGloom!!”

Virgil was at a loss for words. “B-but!! But I shot you!! You’re out too!”

Roman watched as Fenn jumped down from the top of the crates and ran over to him. “We won we won we won!!!” They shouted excitedly, Virgil turning in confusion to the short person. Roman held up his hand and Fenn slapped it as hard as they could in a victory high-five. “Hell yeah!!! TAKE THAT REMY IN YOUR FUCKING FACE!!!”

Roman started laughing. The two posed back to back when Virgil asked what was going on.

“What’s going on is you got  _ owned _ , Virgil!!” Roman declared, giving a solid fist-bump to Fenn. “While you were distracted by my natural and stunning beauty, Fenn was taking out Remy from the cargo crates. They gave me the signal and I knew you were the only one left.” Roman’s smile read nothing but smug glory. “And  _ you _ didn’t know I had that tiny pistol in my pocket!! All I had to do was be fast.”

Virgil reeled. “Holy  _ shit _ ...well you two make an excellent team, I’ll give you that…” He laughed an empty chuckle. “Holy shit…” He repeated.

They eventually all left, Fenn chatting with one of the employees while everyone relayed their plans.

Logan’s original mission was to check the abandoned shed and then guard the cargo crates, but Roman had taken him out before any of that could happen. Then Remy made an alliance with Virgil and Patton, who had managed to evade Fenn on their trip to the sewer pipe. Their plan almost worked, but Virgil didn’t take Roman out fast enough and Fenn ended up being a better shot than Remy had expected.

They all piled into Remy’s car again and went to a nearby diner, laughing and chatting, Fenn opening up to the others the way they had with Roman. It was a good day, and on the way home, Fenn exchanged numbers with everyone.

Roman and Fenn continued to grow closer, and soon Fenn was coming to lunches with the group daily. They were so fun and the sweetest person ever- on par with Patton, if Patton had the competitive energy of a thousand dying suns that was.

Roman really liked Fenn. They would often talk late into the night or play video games together.

School came to a breezy end as the sun began to scorch the Earth during the summer. Everyone promised to stay in touch and hang out as they parted for the summer.

Everyone except Fenn.

Something else happened with them.

And Roman guesses he should have been shocked when three days after school ended Fenn asked him on a date.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a BLAST writing this chapter!! I don't get many chances to describe things in detail like I do in this chapter, so it was a lot of fun!!  
> and call me a nerd...But I actually drew up a map of the Paintball field...I'll post it on my tumblr @pixelatedrose so if you're interested in knowing the exact movements of the chapter, you can go ahead and hop over there!  
> I'm really excited for this new arc and I can't wait to share more with you!! Till next time, Stay Fresh and Minty, Folks!!


	19. Unexpectedly Excited

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roman Prince and Logan Rose are soulmates. They’re platonic soulmates though. They both have the same Soul mark to prove it. But they both have one other soul mark, binding them to one other person. And when they find Patton Miles, it just so happens that they’re both his soulmates. Logan being his Soulbound Soulmate, and Roman being a platonic soulmate. But something feels missing. And it feels filled, shockingly so, when they meet a certain someone a year and a half after they found each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for the beginning of this chapter and all chapters of this story: You may, after reading this, feel inclined to send death threats to the author. Please don't do this.

It was a boring old Wednesday afternoon when Roman got a text from Fenn.

_ Fenn: Hey, I kinda have a question for you _

Roman was quick to reply. Summer had just started, but that meant Logan and Patton going off camping, Virgil was taking drivers ed, and Remus was  _ god _ knows where. It was a bit more than lonely around the house.

_ Roman: alright, shoot _

_ Fenn: Wanna go out sometime? _

Roman stared at his phone, trying to be surprised. But it really wasn’t shocking to him. It caught him a little off guard, sure, but it didn’t shock him for whatever reason. If anything, it made him excited.

_ Roman: Sure!! I’m free tomorrow if you are _

They began working out details and when Remus got home, the mustached twin scoffed at his brother. “You look like an idiot, you high or some shit?”

Roman smirked at his brother, remembering the bet they had made six years prior. “You owe me 20 bucks, brother!!”

Remus scrunched up his nose and picked up a banana. “And why the fuck would I give you 20 deer?”

Roman puffed up his chest. “ _ I _ just got a date!!”

Remus’ jaw almost fell open, but it quickly snapped shut as Roman’s twin scowled, throwing his banana peel in his twin’s face. “Good for you, is it with the dead rat you found in the driveway last week?  _ God _ you two make such a  _ lovely  _ couple- can’t wait for the wedding-” Roman threw the peel back at Remus who caught it. “Oh thanks, I wanted this.” He said, proceeding to take a bite out of it.

Roman recoiled and the two bickered for a while more before Roman decided that being in his room would suffice for protection against his feral brother.

He lay in bed, excited for the next day. He’d never actually been on an official date before! Sure, he’d hung out with a few girls back in middle school that he later found out had a crush on him- oh wait maybe those  _ were  _ dates...In any case, Roman was happy. He really liked Fenn! Maybe this would be good for him!

Before long, the day had gone by and Roman found himself dreaming of a familiar figure. He had purple hair and the most wonderful laugh- full of silver, biting and fresh like peppermint. But by morning, he had forgotten the wonderful serenity of the boy from his dream. What a shame that happened...If only he could have remembered…

~~*~~

Roman got up earlier than normal the following day. He wanted to look dashing, after all! He ignored Remus’ teasing and bitching and waited impatiently for noon to come around. His parents cooed at him and demanded to take his picture before he left for his date.

“Mom!! It’s nothing serious!! It’s just a casual date!”

“Oh, but it’s your first date!! I want to capture the moment!”

Roman sighed, holding still long enough for his mother to snap a photo. Then he was out the door.

Roman hadn’t been lying, it  _ was _ just a casual date. He was wearing something slightly nicer than normal, but it wasn’t anything super fancy. Him and Fenn had decided on just going out for coffee. That’s all it was- a sweet little coffee date!

Roman arrived and spotted Fenn at a booth, their cute green eyes scanning the interior of a book. They were especially cute today, a short black skirt and cute kitten tights disappearing into their iconic boots- the ones they had been wearing the day Roman had met them. Their mint green shirt hung loosely around them, tucking into their skirt, a long sleeved black shirt on underneath.

Roman made his way over, excited to see his friend-date. “Hey, Fenn! Fancy meeting you here!” He said nonchalantly.

Fenn looked up from their book and giggled. “Psh, yeah for real! I would have never expected to see  _ you _ here!! You look nice, by the way!”

Roman returned their smile. “You too!”

Fenn beamed. “Thanks!! Oh, have you ever been here before?”

They fell into a conversation just like any other they’d had, but the more Roman looked at Fenn, the more he swore he saw their cheeks glow with a hint of red. It didn’t matter. Roman’s own cheeks felt a little hot, it was, afterall, his first real date.

The conversation went on for a few hours, a comfortable lull settling in on them.

That’s when Fenn spoke up.

“Hey…” They started slowly, their hands starting to fidget. “I actually have something...T-to tell you, kind of…”

It wasn’t very like them to be shy around Roman, so he gave them his full attention. “Yeah? Go for it!! Whatever it is, you can tell me!!” Was he imagining Fenn’s deep flusterment? Their face looked the color of strawberries...Was the heat getting to them?

The small child stuttered for a moment, interrupting themself in desperation to get their words out. Frustrated they huffed.

“Just...Just let me show you first I guess s-since apparently!! I can’t figure out how to tell you!!” Their voice was shaking with anxiety, despite their show of trying to stay confident.

~~*~~

When Roman got the text from Fenn, asking him out the day before, he gusses he should have been surprised. But he wasn’t. 

When he had a dream of a purple haired boy the night after, maybe he should have been a little shocked, but he didn’t remember it.

But he guesses, out of all the things that should have had him reeling, out of everything that should have sent him spiraling into shock, this should have been it.

But it wasn’t.

~~*~~

Roman stared for a moment.

“I-I know it’s kind of weird and I know it’s like  _ really _ sudden and stuff, but it was kind of eating me up a bit.” Fenn said, rubbing at the back of their neck, looking at everything but Roman.

Roman kept staring. It was such a weird feeling...Seeing something like that.

Because right there, tattooed right on Fenn’s right wrist, was his name. Written in blue letters, the ‘n’ curling a bit at the end, was Roman’s name.

Roman looked up for a moment. His brain felt slow and dead. Why wasn’t he shocked or surprised? But most of all, why wasn’t he upset about it?

“I’m your soulmate…?”

Fenn looked away and huffed a bit. They had once told Roman that they hated confrontation more than anything, no matter what it was. “Well, that’s the only explanation. I knew from a young age that one of my soulmarks was the one where your soulmate’s name shows up slowly over the course of a week after you touch your soulmate for the first time. And it started showing up the day after I met you.”

Roman nodded. “So that’s why you asked me on a date? Cause I’m your soulmate?”

Fenn’s eyes went wide. “NO!!” They shouted, startling Roman. “I-I mean...Well, sort of...But not exactly…” The twirled their finger in one of their long hair strands falling beside their face. “I  _ really _ like you, Roman. When your name first appeared on my wrist I decided to play it cool because I didn’t know you that well.” They looked out the window as a butterfly passed. “But then I got to know you. Really well. And I liked you. I still do. And you never said anything either, and it was starting to eat me up a bit.” They turned back to Roman. “So think of this as an invitation of sorts. Me shooting my shot. I like you a lot, and I think we could make something work...You mean a lot more to me than I expected and I don’t think that’s a bad thing. So what do you say, paintball partner?” They giggled a bit, trying to lighten things up. “I think we could make this work.”

~~*~~

Roman arrived home with a lot of things on his mind. He wanted to be confused or sad or  _ something _ . But the more he thought, the more he came to realize that he wasn’t and that he would never be.

Fenn was his soulmate, it was the only explanation. And while he didn’t have the same soulmark as them, two soulmates having different soulmarks for one another wasn’t unheard of.

He thought of his friends. Logan and Patton were always so happy with one another, they fit together like two puzzle pieces designed for no one else but each other. And Virgil...Well he didn’t have any soulmates. It made Roman so unreasonably upset that the purple haired boy didn’t have soulmates, but not in a way he expected. It wasn’t fair, in Roman’s mind. It wasn’t fair that someone so amazing, kind, and wonderful as Virgil didn’t have any soulmates.

Roman thought of Remus. He knew how much his brother hurt from his soulmark. Remus had met his soulmate already, but he didn’t know who they were. He only had their first name to go off of and Remus swears he’s never met someone with that name before. Roman knew that his brother would sometimes stay up at night in a fit of somber rage, afraid that he had accidentally brushed past his soulmate on the street in a chance meeting, and now he would never find them again.

And Roman thought of Fenn. And he really thought about them and how he felt. He wasn’t upset by what they had revealed. He thought of their talks late into the night, He thought of how they would joke around and play video games till dawn together. He remembered the way they had smiled at Roman when they had first met, how they were excited and so happy. He remembered how they had smiled at him earlier that day, how Fenn’s smile seemed to be alive, how it was already accepting of whatever answer he would give to them. He saw them and realized that they would continue to love him- romantically or platonically, it didn’t matter- no matter what would happen. Roman thought about how much he wanted to see them smile like that again, bright and happy. And Roman found out what he had felt when Fenn told him that he was their soulmate.

Joy.

Roman pulled out his phone and sent Fenn a quick text right before he went to sleep, and he was sure about it. What harm could possibly come from love, after all?

_ I think we can make this work too, Fenn! _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Haha please don't hurt me  
> In all realness though, I hope this chapter was enjoyable!! It was a bit shorter than I thought it was going to be, but this is going to segue into the next arc and there’s going to be a lot of fun things!! well, ‘fun’. It’ll be a lot of character development for everyone!! so!!   
> haha...I just hope I’m not hurting too many people with this chapter...Anyway, till next time, stay fresh and minty, folks!!

**Author's Note:**

> I'm really excited for this!! most of you will probably be coming over from my tumblr to read this- a revised and edited version of my Soulbound story! For anyone new: Welcome! I've been working on this story for about 5 months now and still have big plans for it!  
> I didn't change much in the first chapter (Because I didn't need to) but there will be bigger changes in the following chapters!! Nothing that will alter the entire story, just subtle characterization changes and some scene edits! And my plan is to post one edited chapter a day until I've caught up with where I am in the story now!  
> Anyway I hope you enjoy it!


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